
Copyright ]J^._ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSITS 



/ 



/77 



PATHFINDER PHYSIOLOaY No. 8 

Hygienic Physiology 



WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE USE OF 



ALCOHOLIC drinks AND NARCOTICS 



BEING A REVISED EDITION OF THE 

FOURTEEN WEEKS IN HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY 



BY 

JoEiv DoRNiAN Steeple, F'h.E). 



a^ ' ENLARGED EDITION WITH SELECTED READINGS 



Edited for the use of Schools, in accordance with the recent Legislation itpon 
Temperance Instruction 





Copyright, 1873, 1884, and 1888, by 

A. S. BARNES & COMPANY 

NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 



A POPULAR SERIES ^O 

IN 

NATURAL SCIENCE, 

BY 

J. DoRNiAN Steele, F'pi.D., K.G.S., 

A uthor of the Fourteen Weeks Series in Natural Science^ etc., etc. 

New Popular Chemistry. New Descriptive Astronomy. 

New Popular Physics. New Hygienic Physiology. 

New Popular Zoology. Popular Geology. 

An Introduction to Botany. 



The Publishers can supply (to Teachers only) a Manual containing Answers 
to the Questions and Problems in Steele's entire Series. 



BARNES' HISTORICAL SERIES, 

ON THE PLAN OF 

STEELE'S FOURTEEN-WEEKS IN THE SCIENCES. 

A Brief History of the United States. 
A Brief History of France. 

A Brief History of Ancient Peoples. 

A Brief History of Mediaeval and Modern Peoples^ 
A Brief General History. 

\ Brief History of Greece, 

A Brief History of Rome. 

A Popular History of the United States. 




The term Physiology, or the science of the functions of the 
body, has come to include Anatomy, or the science of its 
structure, and Hygiene, or the laws of health ; the one being 
essential to the proper understanding of physiology, and the 
other being its practical application to life. The three are 
intimately blended, and in treating of the different subjects 
the author has drawn no line of distinction where nature has 
made none. This work is not prepared for the use of medical 
students, but for the instruction of youth in the principles 
which underlie the preservation of health and the formation 
of correct physical habits. All else is made subservient to this 
practical knowledge. A simple scientific dress is used which, 
while conducing to clearness, also gratifies that general desire 
of children to know something of the nomenclature of any 
study they pursue. 

To the description of each organ is appended an account of 
its most common diseases, accidents, etc., and, when prac- 
ticable, their mode of treatment. A pupil may thus learn, for 
example, the cause and cure of "a cold," the inanngomont of 
a wound, or the nature of an inflammation. 

The Practical Questions, which have been a jn-oinineiit 
feature in other books of the series, will bo found, it is hoped. 



VI PREFACE. 

equally useful in this work. Directions for preparing simple 
microscopic objects, and illustrations of the different organs, 
are given under each subject. 

The Readings, which represent the ideas but not always 
the exact phraseology of the author quoted, have, in general, 
been selected with direct reference to Practical Hygiene, a 
subject which now largely occupies the public mind. The 
dangers that lurk in foul air and contaminated water, in bad 
drainage, leaky gas-pipes, and defective plumbing, in reckless 
appetites, and in careless dissemination of contagious diseases, 
are here portrayed in such a manner as, it is trusted, will 
assist the pupil to avoid these treacherous quicksands, and to 
provide for himself a sohd path of health. 

Under the heading of Health and Disease will be found 
Hints about the sick-room. Directions for the use of Disinfect- 
ants, Suggestions as to what to do "Till the Doctor comes,"' 
and a hst of antidotes for Poisons. Questions for Class Use, a 
full Grlossary, and an ample Index complete -the book. 

Believing in a Divine Architect of the human form, the 
author can not refrain from occasionally pointing out His in- 
imitable workmanship, and impressing the lesson of a G-reat 
Final Cause. 

The author has gleaned from every field, at home and 
abroad, to secure that which would interest and profit his 
pupils. In general, Fhnt's great work on the " Physiology of 
Man," an undisputed authority on both sides of the Atlantic, 
has been adopted as the standard in digestion, respiration, cir- 
culation, and the nervous system. Leidy's "Human Anatomj^," 
and Sappey's ' ' Trait6 d' Anatomie " have been followed on all 
anatomical questions, and have furnished many beautiful draw- 
ings. Huxley's "Physiology" has afforded exceedingly valuable 
aid. Foster's "Text-Book of Physiology," Hinton's "Health 
and its Conditions," Black's "Ten Laws of Health," WiUiams' 



PKEFACE. Vll 

practical essay on "Our Eyes and How to Use them," Le 
Pileur's charming treatise on "The Wonders of the Human 
Body," and that quaint volume, "Odd Hours of a Physician," 
have aided the author with facts and fancies. The writings of 
Draper, Dalton, Carpenter, Valentine, Mapother, Watson, Lan- 
kester, Letheby, Hall, Hamilton, Bell, Wilson, Bower, Cutter, 
Hutchison, Wood, Bigelow, Stille, Holmes, Beigel, and others 
have been freely consulted. 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE. 

An Abridged Edition of this work is published, to afford a cheaper 
manual — adapted to Junior Classes and Common Schools. The abridgment 
contains the essence of this text, nearly all its illustrations, and the whole 
of the Temperance matter as here presented. 

Order "Hygienic Physiology, Abridged." 



RKADING RKKKRENCKS 



Foster's "Text-Book of Physiology'''; Tjeidy's "Human Anatomy'"; 
Draper's "Human Physiology"; Dalton's "Physiology and Hygiene"; 
Cutter's "Physiology"; Johnston and Church's "Chemistry of Common 
Liife"; Letheby's "Food"; Tyndall"On Light," and "On Sound"; Flint's 
" Physiology of Man "; Rosenthal's " Physiology of the Muscles and Nerves "; 
Bernstein's " Five Senses of Man " ; Huxley and Youmans' " Physiology 
and Hygiene"; Sappey's "Traits d'Anatomie"; Luys' "Brain and its 
Functions"; Smith's "Foods"; "Rain's "Mind and Body"; Pettigrew's 
"Animal Locomotion"; Carpenter's "Human Physiology," and "Mental 
Physiology"; "Wilder and Gage's "Anatomy"; Jarvis' "Physiology and 
Laws of Health." 

Hargreaves' "Alcohol and Science"; Richardson's "Ten Lectures on 
Alcohol," and "Diseases of Modern Life"; Bro"wn's "Alcohol"; Davis' 
"Intemperance and Crime"; Pitman's "Alcohol and the State"; "Anti- 
Tobacco"; Howie's "Stimulants and Narcotics"; Hunt's "Alcohol as Food 
or Medicine"; Schutzenberger's "Fermentation"; Hubbard's "Opium 
Habit and Alcoholism"; Trouessart's "Microbes, Ferments, and Molds." 




Jr^^^i^^ 



INTRODUCTION 

I.— THE SKELETON 
The Head . 
The Teunk 
The Limbs . 



1, 



PAGE 

xiii 

269 

9 

11 

15 



II.— THE MUSCLES 



III.— THE SKIN . . . . 
The Hair and the Nails 
The Teeth .... 



25, 

47, 



IV.— RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE 



v.— THE CIRCULATION 
The Blood 
The Heart . 
The Arteries . 
The Veins . 



71, 
101, 



VI.— DIGESTION AND FOOD 

VII.— THE NERVOUS SYSTEM . 

The Brain 

The Spinal Cohd and the Nkkvks 
The SYMrATiiKTU^ System 



149, 
189, 



275 

285 
52 
57 

297 

314 
105 
110 
114 
116 

317 

330 
193 
197 

201 



X cox TEXTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Till.— THE SPECIAL SENSES .... 227, 345 

Touch . 229 

Taste 230 

'Smell 232 

Hearixg . 234 

Sight 236 

IX.— HEALTH AXD DISEASE.— DEATH AXD DE- 
CAY 249 

1. HixTS About the Stck-eoom .... 255 

2. DiSIXFECTAXTS 256 

3. What to Do '-Till the Doctor Comes" . 257 

4. Antidotes to Poisons .... . 265 

X.— SELECTED READIX^GS ... . . 267 

XL— APPENDIX 355 

Questions for Class Use 357 

Glossary ... 387 

Index . , 395 




if^SJ'Iti 




Seeing is believing — more than that, it is often knowing 
and remembering. The mere reading of a statement is of little 
value compared with the observation of a fact. Everj^ oppor- 
tunity should therefore be taken of exhibiting to the pupil the 
phenomena described, and thus making them real. A micro- 
scope is so essential to the understanding of many subjects, that 
it is indispensable to the proper teaching of Physiology. A 
suitable instrument and carefully prepared specimens, showing 
the structure of the bones, the skin, and the blood of various 
animals, the pigment cells of the eye, etc., may be obtained at 
a small cost from the Publishers of this book. 

On naming the subject of a paragraph, the pupil should be 
prepared to tell all he knows about it. No failure should dis- 
courage the teacher in establishing this mode of study and reci- 
tation. A little practice will produce the most satisfactory 
results. The unexpected question and the apt reply develop a 
certain sharpness and readiness which are worthy of cultiva- 
tion. The questions for review, or any others that the wit of 
the teacher may suggest, can be effectively used to break the 
monotony of a topical recitation, thereby securing the benetits 
of both systems. 



Xll SUGaESTIOKS TO TEACHERS. 

The pupil should expect to be questioned each day apon 
any subject passed over during the term, and thus the entire 
knowledge gained will be within his grasp for instant use. 
While some are reciting to the teacher, let others write on 
slates or on the blackboard. At the close of the recitation, let 
all criticise the ideas, the spelling, the use of capitals, the pro- 
nunciation, the grammar, and the mode of expression. Q-reater 
accuracy and much collateral drill may thus be secured at little 
expense of valuable school-time. 

The Introduction is designed merely to furnish suggestive 
material for the first lesson, preparatory to beginning the 
study. Other subjects for consideration may be found in the 
section on Health and Disease, in the Selected Readings, and 
among the questions given in the Appendix. Where time will 
allow, the Selected Readings may profitably be used in connec- 
tion with the topics to which they relate. Questions upon 
them are so incorporated with those upon the text proper that 
they may be employed or not, according to the judgment of 
the teacher. 



Note. — Interest in tlie study of Physiology will be mucli increased by 
tbe use of tbe microscope and prepared slides. By writing to the pub- 
lishers of this book, full particulars will be furnished. 



INTRODUCTION 



PHYSIOLOGICAL STUDY in youth is of inestimable 
value. Precious lives are frequently lost through igno- 
rance. Thousands squander in early years the strength which 
should have been kept for the work of real life. Habits are 
often fornjed in youth which entail weakness and poverty upon 
manhood, and are a cause of life-long regret. The use of a 
strained limb may permanently damage it. Some silly feat of 
strength may produce an irreparable injury. A thoughtless 
hour of reading by twilight may impair the sight for life. 'A 
terrible accident may happen, and a dear friend perish before 
our eyes, while we stand by powerless to render the assistance 
we could so easily give did we "only know what to do." The 
thousand little hints which may save or lengthen life, may 
repel or abate disease, and the simple laws which regulate our 
bodily vigor, should be so familiar that we may be quick to 
apply them in an emergency. The preservation of health is 
easier than the cure of disease. Childhood can not afford to 
wait for the lesson of experience which is learned only when 
the penalty of violated law has been already incurred, and 
health irrevocably lost. 

Nature's Laws Inviolable. — In infancy, we learn how 
terribly Nature punishes a violation of certain laws, and liow 
promptly she applies the penalty. Wo soon fmd out the peril 
of fire, falls, edged tools, and the like. We fail, however, to 
notice the equally sharp and certain punishments which bad 
habits entail. We are quick to foc^l tlu^ iuhhI of food, but not 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

so ready to perceive the clanger of an excess. A lack of air 
drives us at once to secure a supply ; foul air is as fatal, but 
it gives us no warning. 

Nature provides a little training for us at the outset of life, 
but leaves the most for us to learn by bitter experience. So in 
youth we throw away our strength as if it were a burden of 
which we desire to be rid. AYe eat any thing, and at any 
time ; do any thing we please, and sit up any number of nights 
with little or no sleep. Because we feel only a momentary dis- 
comfort from these physical sins, we fondly imagine when that 
is gone we are all right again. Our drafts upon our constitu- 
tion are promptly paid, and we expect this will always be the 
case ; but some day they will come back to us, protested ; 
Nature will refuse to meet our demands, and we shall find 
ourselves physical bankrupts. 

We are furnished in the beginning with a certain vital force 
upon which we may draw. We can be spendthrifts and waste 
it in youth, or be wise and so husband it till manhood. Our 
shortcomings are all charged against this stock. Nature's 
memory never fails ; she keeps her account mth perfect exact- 
ness. Every physical sin subtracts from the sum and strength 
of our years. We may cure a disease, but it never leaves us 
as it found us. We may heal a wound, but the scar still shows. 
We reap as we sow, and we may either gather in the thorns, 
one by one, to torment and destroy, or we may rejoice in the 
happy harvest of a hale old age. 



I. 

The Skeleton 



" Not in the "World of Light alone, 
Where Grod has built His blazing throne 
Nor yet alone on earth below, 
"With belted seas that come and go. 
And endless isles of sunlit green 
Is all thy Maker's glory seen— 
Look in upon thy wondrous frame, 
Eternal wisdom still the same I " 

HoiiMES. 



ANALYSIS OF THE SKELETON. 

Note.— The following Table of 206 bones is exclusive of the 8 sesamoid 
bones which occur in pairs at the roots of the thumb and great toe, making 
214 as given by Leidy and Draper. GTray omits /the bones of the ear, and 
names 200 as the total number. / 



< 

to °0 



1. Ckanitjm. . . 
(,8 banes.) 



f Frontal Bone (foreh^d). 
i Two Parietal Bones. 
I Two Temporal (temple) Bones. 
1 Spheuoid Bone. 

I Ethmoid (sieve- like bone at root of nose). 
1^ Occipital Bone (back and base of skull). 

[" Two Superior Masillary (upper jaw) BonesT 

Inferior Maxillary (lower jaw) Bone. 
I Two Malar (cheek) Bones. 
-p J Two Lachrymal Bones. 

- - ; ' Two Turbinated i scroll-like) Bones, each side of noseo 



{U bones.) 









(6 bones.) 



r 1. Spinal Column. 



§3 



j Two Nasal Bones (bridge of nose). 

Vomer (the bone between the nostrils). 
L Two Palate Bones. 

Hammer. 

Anvil. 

Stirrup. 

Cervical Yertebrge (seven vertebrte of the neck). 
Dorsal Vertebrie (twelve vertebrte of the back). 
Lumbar Vertebrte (five vertebrse of the loins). 



9 -r™^ ( True Ribs. 

^- ^^^ "( False Eibs. 

3. Steknuji (breast-bone). 

4. Os Htoides (bone at the root of tongue). 

Two Innominata. 

Pelvis ■{ Sacrum. 

Coccvx. 



1. Upper Limbs. 

{6U bones.) 



Lo\^^r Limbs. 

{60 bones.) 



c Shoulder \ Clavicle. 

r ^^oulder -j g^^p,^i^^^ 

^ Arm 



Hand 



Leg. 



Scapula. 

Humerus- 

Vina and Radius. 

Eight Wrist or Carpal 
Five Metacarpal Bones. 
Phalanges {lU bones). 

Femur. 
Patella. 
Tibia and Fibula. 



Seven Tarsal Pones. 

I Foot i Five Metatai'sal . 

Phalanges (lU bones). 



r 1. 



THE SKELETON. ^ 



Form, Structure, etc., 
OF the Bon^s. 



Classification of the j 
Bones. j 



Composition. 
Structure. 
Growth. 
Repair. 
The Joints. 



1. The Head. 

2. The Trunk. 

3. The Limbs-. 



THE SKELETON 



I. FORM, STRUCTURE, ETC., OF THE BONES. 

{See page 269.) 

The Skeleton, or frame-work of the "House we 
live in," is composed of about 200 bones.* 

Uses and Forms of the Bones. — They have three 
principal uses : 1 . To protect the delicate organs ; f 
2. To serve as levers on which the muscles may act 
to produce motion ; and 3. To preserve the shape of 
the body. 

Bones differ in form according to the uses the}^ 
subserve. For convenience in walking, some are 
long ; for strength and compactness, some are short 
and thick ; for covering a cavity, some are flat ; and 
for special purposes, some are irregular. The gen- 
eral form is such as to combine strength and light- 

* The precise number varies in different periods of life. Several -which 
are separated in youth become united in old age. Thus five of the "false 
vertebrae " at the base of the spine early join in one great bone— the sacrum ; 
while four tiny ones below it often r\in into a bony mass— the coccyx (Fig. 6) ; 
in the child, the sternum is composed of eight pieces, while in the adult it 
consists of only three. While, however, the number of the bones is uncer- 
tain, their relative length is so exact that the length of the entire skeleton, 
and thence the height of the man, can be obtained by measuring a single 
one of the principal bones. Fossil bones and those foiind ut Pompeii have 
the same proportion as our own. 

t An organ is a portion of the body dosigiiod for a particular use. callod 
its function. Thus the heart circulates the blood ; the liver produces the bile. 



4 THE SKELETON. [5,6. 

ness. For example, all the long bones of the limbs 
are round and hollow, thus giving with the same 
weight a greater strength,* and also a larger surface 
for the attachment of the muscles. 

The Composition of the Bones at maturity is 
about one part animal to two parts mineral matter. 
The proportion varies with the age. In youth it is 
nearly half and half, while in old age the mineral is 
greatly in excess. By soaking a bone in weak muri- 
atic acid, and thus dissolving the mineral matter, its 
shape will not change, but its stiffness will disap- 
pear, leaAdng a tough, gristly substance f (cartilage) 
which can be bent like rubber. 

If the bone be burned in the fire, thus consuming 
the animal matter, the shape will still be the same, 
but it will have lost its tenacity, and the beautiful, 

* Cut a sheet of foolscap in two pieces. Roll one half into a compact 
cylinder, and fold the other into a close, flat strip ; support the ends of each 
and hang weights in the middle until they bend. The superior strength of 
the roll will astonish one unfamiliar with this mechanical principle. In a 
rod, the particles break in succession, first those on the outside, and later 
those in the center. In a tube, the particles are all arranged where they 
resist the first strain. Iron pillars are therefore cast hollow. Stalks of 
grass and grain are so light as to bend before a breath of wind, yet are 
stiff enough to sustain their load of seed. Bone has been found by experi- 
ment to possess twice the resisting property of solid oak. 

t Mix a wine-glass of miiriatic acid with a pint of water, and place in 
it a. sheep's rib. In a day or two, the bone will become so soft that it can 
be tied into a knot. In the same way, an egg may be made so pliable that 
it can be crowded into a narrow-necked bottle, within which it will expand, 
and become an object of great curiosity to the uninitiated. By boiling 
bones at a high temperature, the animal matter separates in the form of 
gelatine. Dogs and cats extract the animal matter from the bones they 
eat. IFossil bones deposited in the ground during the G-eologic period, 
were found by Cuvler to contain considerable animal matter. Q-elatine 
was actually extracted from the Cambridge mastodon, and made into glue. 
A tolerably nutritious food might thus be manufactured from bones older 
than man himself. 



6,7.] 



THE COMPOSITION OF THE BONES. 



Fig. 2. 



11 



;!#/ 



pure-white residue* may be crumbled into powder 
with the fingers. 

We thus see that a bone receives 
hardness and rigidity from its mineral, 
and tenacity and elasticity from its 
animal matter. 

The entire bone is at first composed 
of cartilage, which gradually ossifies or 
turns to bone.f Certain portions near 
the joints are long delayed in this 
process, and by their elasticity assist 
in breaking the shock of a fall.|: Hence 

* From bones thus calcined, the phosphorus of the 
chemist is made. See Steele's " Popular Chemistry," 
page 114. If the animal matter be not consumed, but 
only charred, the bone will be black and brittle. In this 
way, the " bone-black " of commerce is manufactured. 

t The ossification of the bones on the sides and 
upper part of the skull, for example, begins by a rounded 
spot in the middle of each one. From this spot the ossi- 
fication extends outward in every direction, thus gradu- 
ally approaching the edges of the bone. When two 
adjacent bones meet, there will be a line where their 
edges are in contact with each other, but have not yet 
united ; but when more than two bones meet in this 
way, there will be an empty space between them at 
their point of junction. Thus, if you lay down three 
coins upon the table with their edges touching one an- 
other, there will bo a three-sided space in the middle between them ; if you 
lay down four coins in the same manner, the space between them will be 
four-sided. Now at the back part of the head there is a spot where three 
bones come together in this way, leaNdng a small, three-sided opening be- 
tween them: this is called the "posterior fontanelle." On the top of the 
head, four bones come together, leaving betweei\ them a large, four-sided 
opening: this is called the "anterior fontanelle." These openings are 
termed the fontanelles, because we can feel the pulsations of the brain 
through them, like the bubbling of water in a fountain. They gradually 
diminish in size, owing to the gro^vth of the bony parts ai\>\ind tlieni, and 
are completely closed at the age of four yoare after birth.— Dai.tox. 

t Frogs and toads, which move by jumping, and consoquonrly receivi^ 



Wm 



The Thigh-bone, or 

Femur, sawed 

lengthwise. 



b THE SKELETOX. [7,8. 

the bones of children are tough, are hot readhy fract- 
ured, and when broken easily heal again ; * y\-hile 
those of elderly people are hable to fracture, and do 
not quickly unite. 

The Structure of the Bones. — When a bone is 
sawed lengthwise, it is found to be a compact shell 

Tig. 3. 










sw^^ 



^^ nCw^-^O^'^'"^ ^"i^ 



^4., 



v^$5^ 



A thin slice of Bone, highly magnified, shoicing the lacunce, the tiny tubes {canali- 
cidi) radiating from them, and four Haversian canals, three seen crosswise and one 
lengthivise. 

filled with a spongy substance. This filling increases 
in quantity, and becomes more porous at the ends of 
the bone, thus giving greater size to form a strong 
joint, while the solid portion increases near the 

so many jars, retain these xinossifled portions (epiphyses) nearly through 
life ; while alligators and turtles, whose position is sprawling, and whose 
motions are measxired, do not have them at all.— Leidt. 

* This is only one of the many illustx-ations of the Infinite care that 
watches over helpless infancy, until knowledge and ability are acquired to 
naeet the perils of life. 



8,9.] GROWTH OF THE BONES. V 

middle, where strength alone is needed. Each fiber 
of this bulky material diminishes the shock of a 
sudden blow, and also acts as a beam to brace the 
exterior wall. The recumbent position of the alli- 
gator protects him from falls, and therefore his bones 
contain very little spongy substance. 

In the body, bones are not the dry, dead, blanched 
things they commonly seem to be, but are moist, liv- 
ing, pinkish structures, covered with a tough mem- 
brane, called the per-i-os'-te-um* {peri, around, and 
osteon, a bone), while the hollow is filled with mar- 
row, rich in fat, and full of blood-vessels. If we ex- 
amine a thin slice with the microscope, we shall see 
black spots with lines running in all directions, and 
looking very like minute insects. These are really 
little cavities, called ki-cu'-n(r,\ from which radiate 
tiny tubes. The lacunae are arranged in circles 
around larger tubes, termed from their discoverer, 
Havei^sian canals, which serve as passages for the 
blood-vessels that nourish the bone. 

Growth of the Bones. — By means of this S3^stem 
of canals, the blood circulates as freely through the 
bones as through any part of the body, The whole 
structure is constantly but slowly changing,! old 

* The relations of the periosteum to the bone are very interesting. In- 
stances are on record where the bone has been removed, leaving the peri- 
osteum, from which the entire bone was afterward renewed. 

t When the bono is dry, the lacunoe are filled with air, which refracts 
the light, so that none of it reaches the eye. and hence the cavities appear 
blaclc. 

X Bone is sometimes produced with surprising rapidity. The great Irish 
Elk is calculated by Pi'of. Owen to have cast oil and renewed annually in 
its antlers eighty pounds of bone. 



8 THE SKELETON. [9,10. 

material being taken out and new put in. A curi- 
ous illustration is seen in the fact that if madder 
be mixed with the food of pigs, it will tinge their 
bones red. 

Repair of the Bones. — When a bone is broken, the 
blood at once oozes out of the fractured ends. This 
soon gives place to a watery fluid, which in a fort- 
night thickens to a gristly substance, strong enough 
to hold them in place. Bone-matter is then slowly 
deposited, which in five or six weeks will unite the 
broken parts. Nature, at first, apparently endeavors 
to remedy the weakness of the material by excess in 
the quantity, and so the new portion is larger than 
the old. But the extra matter will be gradually 
absorbed, sometimes so perfectly as to leave no trace 
of the injury. (See p. 2 71.) 

A broken limb should always be held in place 
by siDlints, to enable this process to go on uninter- 
ruptedly, and also lest a sudden jar might rupture 
the partialty-mended break. For a long time, the 
new portion consists largely of animal niatter, and 
so is tender and pliable. The utmost care is there- 
fore necessary to prevent a malformation. 

The Joints are packed with a soft, smooth carti- 
lage, or gristle, which fi^ts so perfectly as to be .air- 
tight. Upon convex surfaces, it is thickest at the 
middle, and upon concave surfaces, it is thickest at 
the edge, or where the wear is greatest. In addi- 
tion, the ends of the bones are covered with a thin 
membrane, the synovial {sun, with ; ovum, an egg), 
which secretes a viscid fluid, not unlike the white of 



10-12.] THEHEAD. 

an egg. This lubricates the joints, and prevents the 
noise and wear of friction. The body is the only 
machine that oils itself. 

The bones which form the joint are tied with 
stout ligaments (ligo, I bind), or bands, of a smooth, 
silvery white tissue,* so strong that the bones are 
sometimes broken without injuring the fastenings. 



II. CLASSIFICATION OF THE BONES. 

For convenience, the bones of the skeleton are 
considered in three divisions : the head, the trunk, 
and the limbs. 

1. THE HEAD. 

The Bones of the Skull and the Face form a 
cavity for the protection of the brain and the four 
organs of sense, viz. : sight, smell, taste, and hearing. 
All these bones are immovable except the lower jaw, 
which is hinged t at the back so as to allow for the 
opening and shutting of the mouth. 

The Skull is composed, in general, of two compact 
plates, with a spongy layer between. These are in 
several pieces, the outer ones being joined by notched 
edges, sutures (sut'yurs), in the way carpenters term 
dove-tailing. (See Fig. 4.) 

* Tho general term tis,s^i/e is applied to the various toxtiiros of which the 
organs arc composed. For example, tho osseous tissue forms the bones ; the 
fibrous tissue, the skin, tendons, and ligaments. 

t A ring of cartilage ia inserted in its joints, something after the man- 
ner of a washer in machinery. This follows the movements of the jaw, and 
admits of freer motion, while it guards against dislocation. 



10 



THE SKELETON. 



[12. 



The peculiar structure and form of the skuU afford 
a perfect shelter for the brain — an organ so delicate 
that, if unprotected, an ordinary blow would destroy 
it. Its oval or egg shape adapts it to resist pressure. 



Fig. 4. 




77i£ Sl-ull.—l, frontal bone; 2, j^anetal bone; 3, temporal bone; 4, the sphenoid 
bone ; 5, ethmoid bone ; 6, superior maxillary {i/pi)er jaw) bone ; 7, maiar bone ; 
8, lachrymal bone ; 9, nasai bone ; 10, inferior maxillary (lower jaw) bone. 

The smaller and stronger end is in front, where the 
danger is greatest. Projections before and behind 
shield the less protected parts. The hard plates are 
not easy to penetrate.* The spongy packing deadens 



* Instances have been known where bullets, striking against the skuU, 
have glanced off, been flattened, or even split into halves. In the Penin- 
sular Campaign, the author saw a man who had been struck in the fore- 
head by a bullet which, instead of penetrating the brain, had followed the 
skull around to the back of the head, and there passed out. 



12, 13.] 



THE SPIKAL COLUMN. 



11 



every blow.* The separate pieces with 
their curious joinings disperse any jar 
which one may receive, and also pre- 
vent fractures from spreading. 

The frequent openings in this 
strong bone-box afford safe avenues 
for the passage of numerous nerves 
and vessels which communicate be- 
tween the brain and the rest of the 
body. 



Fig. 



<^ 



2 THE TRUNK. 

The Trunk has two important cav- 
[es. The upper part, or chesty con- 
tains the heart and the lungs, and 
the lower part, or abdomen, holds the 
stomach, liver, kidneys, and other or- 
gans (Fig. 31). The principal bones 
are those of the spine, the ribs, and 
the hips. 

The Spine consists of twenty-four 
I^Qiies, between which are placed pads 
of cartilage. t A canal is hollowed 

Fig. 5. 



• omI • 



m 



A 



v^ 



aAI 



nf^ 



^J 



* An experiment resembling the 
familiar one of the balls in Natural 
Philosophy (" Steele's Popular Phys- 
ics," Fig. 6, p. 26), beautifully illus- 
trates this point. Several balls of 
ivory are suspended by cords, as in 
Fig. 5. If A bo raised and then let fall, it will trans- 
mit the force to B, and that to C, and so on until F 
is reached, which will fly off with the impulse. Tf 

now a ball of spongy bone be sxibstituted for an ivory ono anywhere ii 
the line, the force will be checked, and the last ball will not stir. 

t These pads vary in thickness from one fourth to one half an inch 



The Sp^ine ; 
the seven ver- 
tebnv. of the 
?iecA\ cenical; 
the twelve of 
the bad; dor- 
sol; the five of the loins, 
linnhar; a, the sacrum, 
and b, the ixhvi/.v, ctvn- 
pfis^in<f the nine '\r'alf>e 
vertebra- " (p. [D. 



12 



THE SKELETON, 



[13, 14 



out of the column for the safe passage of the spinal 
cord. (See Fig. 50.) Projections (processes) at the 
back and on either side are abundant for the attach- 
ment of the muscles. The packing acts as a cushion 
to prevent any jar from reaching the brain when we 
jump or run, while the double curve of the spine 
also tends to disperse the force of a fall. Thus on 
every side the utmost caution is taken to guard that 
precious gem in its casket. 

The Perfection of the Spine surpasses all human 
contrivances. Its various uses seem a bundle of con- 
tradictions. A chain of twenty-four bones is made 
so stiff that it wih bear a heavy burden, and so 
flexible that it will bend like rubber ; yet, all the 
while, it transmits no shock, and even hides a deli- 
cate nerve within that would thrill with the slightest 



W^"- 




FiG. 7. 




A ^- 

B, the first cet^iccU tertehra^ the atlas ; A, the atlas, and the 
vertebra, the axis ; e, the odontoid process ; c, the foramen. 



second cei^ical 



touch. Resting upon it, the brain is borne without 
a tremor ; and, clinging to. it, the vital organs are 
carried without fear of harm. 

They become condensed by tbe weight they bear diiring the day, so that 
we are somewhat shorter at evening than in the morning. Their elasticity 
causes them to resume their usual size during the night, or when we lie 
down for a time. 



14, 15.] 



THE RIBS. 



18 



The Skull Articulates with (is jointed to) the 
spine in a peculiar manner. On the top of the upper 
vertebra (atlas*) are two little hollows (a, 5, Fig. 7), 
nicely packed and lined with the synovial membrane, 
into which fit the corresponding projections on the 
lower part of the skull, and thus the head can rock 
to and fro. The second vertebra (axis) has a peg, e, 
which projects through a hole, c, in the first. 




The Thorax^ or Chest, a, the sternum ; b to c, the true nbs ; d to h, the fal<e ribs ; 
g, h, the floating ribs ; i, k, the dorsal vertebrce. 

The surfaces of both vertebrae are so smooth that 
they easily glide on each other, and thus, when we 
move the head sidewise, the atlas turns around the 
peg, c, of the axis. 

The Ribs, also twenty-four in number, are ar- 

* Thus called because, as, in ancient fable, the jiod Atlas supported the 
world on his shoulders, so in the body this bone beai's the head. 



14 THE SKELETON. [15,16. 

ranged in pairs on each side of the chest. At the 
back, they are ah attached to the spine. In front, 
the upper seven pairs are tied by cartilages to the 
breast-bone (sternum) ; three are fastened to each 
other and to the cartilage above, and two, tlie float- 
ing ribs, are loose. 

The natural form of the chest is that of a cone 
diminishing upward. But, owing to the tightness of 
the clothing commonly worn, the reverse is often 
the case. The long, slender ribs give lightness,* the 
arched form confers strength, and the cartilages im- 
part elasticity, — properties essential to the protection 
of the delicate organs within, and to freedom of mo- 
tion in respiration. (See note, p. 80.) . 

Fig. 9. 




IM Pelvis, a, the sacrum ; b, b, t?ie right and the left innominatum. 

m 

The Hip-bones, called by anatomists the innomi- 
nata, or nameless bones, form an irregular basin 

* If the chest-wall were in one bone thick enough to resist a blow, it 
would be unwieldy and heavy. As it is, the separate bones bound by car- 
tilages j-ield gradually, and diflfuse the force among them aU, and so are 
rarely broken. 



16, 17.] 



THE LIMBS. 



16 



styled the pelvis {pelvis, a basin). In the upper 
part, is the foot of the spinal column — a wedge- 
shaped bone termed the sacrum '"^ (sacred), firmly 
planted here between the wide-spreading and solid 
bones of the pelvis, like the key-stone to an arch, 
and giving a steady .support to the heavy burden 
above. 



Fig. 10. 



3. THE LIMBS. 

Two Sets of Limbs branch from the trunk, viz.: 
the upper, and the lower. They closely resemble 
each other. The arm corresponds to the thigh ; the 
fore-arm, to the leg ; the wrist, to 
the ankle ; the fingers, to the 
toes. The fingers and the toes are 
so much alike that they receive 
the same name, digits, while the 
several bones of both have also 
the common appellation, pha- 
langes. The differences which 
exist groAV out of their varying 
uses. The foot is characterized 
by strength ; the hand, by mo- 
bility. 

I. The Upper Limbs. — The 
Shoulder. — The bones of the 
shoulder are the collar - boiui 

(clavicle), and the shcnilder- blade (scapula). The 
clavicle {clavis, a key) is a long, slendcH' bone, shaped 
like the Italic /". It is fastened at (^le end to the 




The Shoulder-joint, a, the 
clavicle ; b, the scapitla. 



* So callod beoaiiso it wiis auciiMitlv otVoi'od in saovilloo, 



16 



THE SKELETON. 



[17, 18. 



Pig. 11. 



breast-bone and the first rib, and, at the otlier, to 
the shoulder-blade. (See Fig. 1.) It thus holds the 
shoulder-joint out from the chest, and gives the arm 
greater play. If it be removed or broken, the head 
of the arm-bone will fall, and the motions of the 
arm be greatly restricted.* 

The Shoulder-blade is a thin, flat, triangular bone, 
fitted to the top and back of the chest, and designed 

to give a foundation for the 
muscles of the shoulder. 

The Shoulder- joint. — The 
arm-bone, or humerus, articu- 
lates with the shoulder-blade 
by a ball-and-socket joint. This 
consists of a cup-like cavity 
in the latter bone, and a 
rounded head in the former, 
to fit it, — ^thus affording a free 
rotary motion. The shallow- 
ness of the socket accounts 
for the frequent dislocation 
of this joint, but a deeper one 
Avould diminish the easy swing 
of the arm. 

The Elbow. — At the elbow, 
the humerus articulates with 
the ulna — a slender bone on the inner side of the 
fore-arm — ^by a hinge-joint which admits of motion in 




B(mes of the right Fore-ami. H, 
tTie humerus : B., the radius; and 
U, th^ ulna. 



* Animals wMcli use the forelegs only for support (as tlie horse, ox, 
etc.), do not possess this bone. "It is found in those that dig, fly, climb, 
and seize." 



18, 19.] 



THE HAND. 



17 



Fig. 12. 



only two directions, i. e., backward and forward. The 
ulna is small at its lower end ; the radius, or large 
bone of the fore-arm, on the contrary, is small at its 
upper end, while it is large at its lower end, where 
it forms the wrist-joint. At the elbow, the head of 
the radius is convex and fits into a shallow cavity 
in the ulna, while at the wrist the ulna plays in a 
similar socket in the radius. Thus the radius may 
roll over and even cross the ulna. 

The Wrist, or carpus, consists of two rows of 
very irregular bones, one of which articulates with 
the fore-arm ; the other, with the hand. They are 
placed side to side, and so 
firmly fastened as to admit 
of only a gliding motion. 
This gives little play, but 
great strength, elasticity, 
and power of resisting 
shocks. 

The Hand. — The meta- 
carpal {meta, beyond ; kar- 
pos, wrist), or bones of the 
palm, support each a thumb 
or a finger. Each finger has 
three bones, while the thumb 
has only two. The first 
bone of the thumb, stand- 
ing apart from the rest, enjoys a special freedom of 
motion, and adds greatly to the usefulness of the 
hand. 

The first bono (Figs. 11, 12) of each finger is so 




Bones of the Hand and the Wrist. 



1« THE SKELETON. [19,20. 

attacliecl to the corresponding metacarpal bone as to 
move in several directions upon it, but the other 
phalanges form hinge- joints. 

The fingers are named in order : the thmnb, the 
index, the middle, the ring, and the little finger. 
Their different lengths cause them to fit the hollow 
of the hand when it is closed, and probably enable 
ns more easily to grasp objects of A^arying size. If 
the hand clasps a ball, the tips of the fingers will be 
in a straight line. 

The hand in its perfection belongs only to man. 
Its elegance of outline, delicacy of mold, and beauty 
of color haA^e made it the study of artists ; Avhile its 
exquisite mobility and adaptation as a perfect instru- 
ment haA^e led many philosophers to attribute man's 
superiority even more to the hand than to the 
mind.* 

2. The Lower Limbs. — The Hip. — The thigh-bone, 
or femur ^ is the largest and necessarily the strongest 
in the skeleton, since at every step it has to bear 



* How constantly the hand aids us in explaining or enforcing a 
thought! We afarm a fact by placing the hand as if we would rest it 
firmly on a body; we deny by a gesture putting the false or erroneous 
proposition away from us; we express doubt by holding the hand sus- 
pended, as if hesitating whether to take or reject, AVlien we part from 
dear friends, or greet them again after long absence, the hand extends 
toward them as if to retain, or to bring them sooner to us. If a recital or 
a proposition is revolting, we reject it energetically in gesture as in thought. 
In a friendly adieu we wave our good wishes to him who is their object : 
but when it expresses enmity, by a brusque movement we sever every tie. 
The open hand is carried backward to express fear or horror, as well as to 
avoid contact ; it goes forward to meet the hand of friendship ; it is raised 
suppliantly in prayer toward Him from whom we hope for help ; it ca- 
resses lo\^ngly the downy cheek of the infant, and rests on its head in- 
voking the blessing of Heaven.— TTb/K^cr.*; of the Human Body. 



20, 21.1 



THE HIP. 



19 



the weight of the whole body. It articulates with 
the hip-bone by a ball-and-socket joint. Unlike the 
shoulder-joint, the cup here is deep, thus affording 



Fig. 13. 




The Mechanism of the Hip-joint. 

less play, but greater strength. It fits so tightl}^ that 
the pressure of the air largely aids in keeping the 
bones in place.* Indeed, when the muscles are cut 
away, great force is required to detach the limbs. 
The Knee is strengthened by the jxitclhi, or knee- 



* In order to test this, a hole was ])orod throxigh a hip-hone, so as to 
admit air into the socket ; the thifi;h-bone at once fell out as far as the 
ligaments would permit. An experiment was also devised whereby a suit- 
ably-prepared hip-joint was placed \inder the receiver of an aii'-pump. On 
exhausting the air, the weight of the femur caused it to drop out of the 
socket, while the re-admission of the air raised it to its place. Withoiit this 
arrangement, the adjacent miiscles Avould have been compelled to bear the 
additional weight of the thigh-bone every time it was raised. Xow the 
pressure of the air rids them of this unnecessary burden, and hence thoy 
,are less easily fatigued.— Wkbeb, 



20 THE SKELETON'. [21,32. 

pan {patella^ little dish), a chestnut-shaped bone 
firmly fastened over the joint. 

The shin-bone, or tihia, the large, triangular bone 
on the inner side of the leg, articulates both with the 
femur and the foot by hinge-joints. The knee-joint 
is so made, however, as to admit of a slight rotary 
motion when the limb is not extended. 

The fibula {fibula, a clasp), the small, outside bone 
of the leg, is firmly bound at each end to the tibia. 
(See Fig. 1.) It is immiovable, and, as the tibia bears 
the principal weight of the body, the chief use of 
this second bone seems to be to give more surface to 
which the muscles may be attached.* 

The Foot. — The general arrangement of the foot is 
strikingly like that of the hand (Fig. 1). The several 
parts are the tarsus, the metatarsus, and the pha- 
langes. The graceful arch of the foot, and the nu- 
merous bones joined by cartilages, give an elasticity 
to the step that could never be attained by a single, 
fiat bone.f The toes naturally lie straight forward in 
the line of the foot. Few persons in civilized na- 
tions, however, have naturally-formed feet. The big 
toe is crowded upon the others, while crossed toes, 
nails grown-in, enormous joints, corns, and bunions 
abound. 



* A young man in the hospital at Limoges had lost the middle part of 
his tibia. The lost bone was not reproduced, but the fibula, the naturally 
•weak and slender part of the leg, became thick and strong enough to sup- 
port the whole body.— Stanley's Lectures. 

t The foot consists of an arch, the base of which is more extended in 
front than behind, and the whole weight of the body is made to fall on this 
arch by means of a variety of joints. These joints further enable the foot 
to be applied, without inconvenience, to rough and uneven surfaces.— Hinto>-. 



22, 23.1 THE FOOT. 21 

The Cause of these Deformities is found in the 
shape and size of fashionable boots and shoes. The 
sole ought to be large enough for full play of mo- 
tion, the uppers should not crowd the toes, and the 
heels should be low, flat, and broad. As it is, there 
is a constant warfare between Nature and our shoe- 
makers,* and we are the victims. The narrow point 
in front pinches our toes, and compels them to over- 
ride one another; the narrow sole compresses the 
arch ; while the high heel, by throwing all the 
weight forward on the toes, strains the ankle, and, 
by sending the pressure where Nature did not design 
it to fall, causes that joint to become enlarged. The 
body bends' forward to meet the demand of this new 
motion, and thus loses its uprightness and beauty, 
making our gait stiff and ungraceful. (See p. 271.) 

Diseases, etc. — 1. Rickets, a disease of early life, 
is caused by a lack of mineral matter in the bones, 
rendering them soft and pliable, so that they bend 
under the weight of the body. They thus become 
permanently distorted, and of course are weaker 
than if they were straight. f Rickets is most common 
among children who have inherited a feeble constitu- 

* When we are nieasvired for boots or shoes, we should stand on a sheet 
of paper, and have the shoemaker mark with a pencil the exact outline of 
our feet as they bear our whole weight. When the shoe is made, the sole 
should exactly cover this outline. 

t Just here appears an exceedingly beautiful provision. As soon as the 
disproportion of animal matter ceases, a larger supply of mineral is sent to 
the weak points, and the bones actually become thicker, denser, hai\ler, 
and consequently stronger at the veiy concave part where the stress of 
pressure is greatest.— AVatson's Lecturett. Wo shall often have occasion to 
refer to similar wise and providential arrangements wlieivby the body is 
enabled to renuHly dt^fects, and to prepaiv for accidents. 



22 THE SKELETON. [23. 

tion and who are ill fed, or who live in damp, unventi- 
lated houses. " Rickety " children should have plenty 
of fresh air and sunlight, nourishing food, comfortable 
clothing, and, in short, the best of hygienic care. 

2. A Felon is a swelling of the finger or thumb, 
usually of the last joint. It is marked by an accu- 
mulation beneath the periosteum and next the bone. 
The physician Avill merely cut through the perios- 
teum, and let out the effete matter. 

3. Bow-legs axe caused by children standing on 
their feet before the bones of the lower limbs are 
strong enough to bear their weight. The custom of 
encouraging young children to stand by means of 
a chair or the support of the hand, while the bones 
are yet soft and pliable, is a cruel one, and liable to 
produce permanent deformity. Nature vfill set the 
child on its feet when the proper time comes. 

4. Curvature of the Spine. — When the spine is 
bent, the packing between the vertebrae becomes 
compressed on one side into a wedge-like shape. 
After a time, it will lose its elasticity, and the spine 
will become distorted. This often occurs in the case 
of students who bend forward to bring their eyes 
nearer their books, instead of lifting their books 
nearer their eyes, or who raise their right shoulder 
above their left when writing at a desk which is 
too high. Round shoulders, small, weak lungs, and, 
frequentl}^, diseases of the spine are the consequences. 
An erect posture in reading or writing conduces not 
alone to beauty of form, but also to health of body. 
We shall learn hereafter that the action of the 



23,24.] DISEASES, ETC. 23 

muscles bears an important part in preserving the 
symmetry of the spine. Muscular strength comes 
from bodily activity ; hence, one of the best pre- 
ventives of spinal curvature is daily exercise in the 
open air. 

5. Sprains are produced when the ligaments which 
bind the bones of a joint are strained, twisted, or 
torn from their attachments. They are quite as 
serious as a broken bone, and require careful atten- 
tion lest they lead to a crippling for life, B}^ pre- 
mature use a sprained limb may be xjermanently 
impaired. Hence, the joint should be kept quiet, 
•even after the immediate pain is gone. 

6. A Dislocation ' is the forcible displacement of 
a bone from its socket. It is, generally, the result of 
a fall or a violent blow. The tissues of the joint 
are often ruptured, while the contraction of the 
muscles prevents the easy return of the bone to its 
place. A dislocation should be reduced as soon as 
possible after the injury, before inflammation super- 
venes. 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 

1. Why does not a fall hiirt a child as much as it does a grown pei-son ? 

2. Should a young child ever be urged to stand or walk ? 

3. What is meant by " breaking one's neck " ? 

4. Should chairs or benches have straight backs? 

5. Should a child's feet be allowed to dangle fi-om a high seat? 

6. Why can we tell whether a fowl is young by pri?ssing on tho point 
of the breast-bone? 

7. What is the xise of the marrow in the bones? 

8. Why is the shoulder so often p\it out of Joint? 
0. Plow can you tie a knot in a bone? 



24 THE SKELETON. [24. 

10. WTiy are high pillows injurious? 

11. Is a stooping posture a healthful position? 

12. Should a boot have a heel-piece ? 

13. "Why should one always sit and walk erect? 

14. Why does a young child creep rather than walk? 

15. What is the natural direction of the big toe? 

16. What is the difference between a spi^ain and a fracture? A dis- 
location ? 

17. Does the general health of the system affect the strength of the 
bones ? 

18. Is living bone sensitive? Ans.— Scrape a bone, and its vessels bleed; 
cut or bore a bone, and its granulations sprout up ; break a bone, and it 
will heal ; cut a piece away, and more bone will readily be produced ; hui't 
it in any way, and it inflames ; burn it, and it dies. Take any proof of 
sensibility but the mere feeling of pain, and it will answer to the proof.— 
Bell's Anatomy. Animal sensibility would be inconvenient ; it is therefore 
not to be found except in diseased bone, where it sometimes exhibits itself 
too acutely.— Todd's Cyclopedia of Anatomy. 

19. Is the constitution of bone the same in animals as in man? A)is.~ 
The bones of quadrupeds do not differ much from those of m.an. In gen- 
eral they are of a coarser texture, and in some, as in those of the elephant's 
head, we find extensive air-cells.— Todd's Anatomy 



11. 

The Muscles 



Behold the outward moving frame, 
Its living marbles jointed strong 
With glistening band and silvery thong, 
And link'd to reason's guiding reins 
By myriad rings in trembling chains, 
Each graven with the^ threaded zone 
Which claims it as the Master's own." 

Holmes. 



ANALYSIS OF THE MUSCLES. 



The Use, Struct 
URE, AXD Action^ 
OF THE Muscles 



o 

m 



1. The Use of the Muscles. 

2. Contractihty of the Muscles. 

3. Arrangement of the Muscles. 

4. The two Kinds of Muscles. 

5. The Structure of the Muscle?;. 

6. The Tendons for Fastening Muscles. 

7. The Muscles and Bones as Levers. 

8. The Effect of Big Joints. 

9. Action of the Muscles in Standing. 
10. Action of the Muscles in Walking. 



2. The Muscular Sense. 



•3. Hygiene of 

Muscles. 



1. Necessity of Exercise. 

2. Time for Exercise. 

3. Kinds of Exercise. 



4. Wonders of the Muscles. 



5. Diseases. 



1. St. Vitus' Dance. 

2. Convulsions. 

3. Locked-jaw. 

4. Gout. 

5. Rheumatism. 

6. Lumbago. 

7. A Granglion. 



THE MUSCLES. 

The Use of the Muscles. — The skeleton is the 
image of death. Its unsightly appearance instinct- 
ively repels us. We have seen, however, what uses 
it subserves in the body, and how the ugly-looking 
bones abound in nice contrivances and ingenious 
workmanship. In life, the frame- work is hidden by 
the flesh. This covering is a mass of muscles, which 
by their arrangement and their properties not only 
give form and symmetry to the body, but also pro- 
duce its varied movements. 

In Fig. 14, we see the large exterior muscles. 
Beneath these are many others ; while deeply hidden 
within are tiny, delicate ones, too small to be seen 
with the naked eye. There are, in all, about five 
hundred, each having its special use, and all working 
in exquisite harmony and perfection. 

Contractility. — The peculiar property of the mus- 
cles is their power of contraction, whereby they de- 
crease in length and increase in thickness.* This 
may be caused by an effort of the will, by cold, by a 
sharp blow, etc. It does not cease at death, but, in 
certain cold-blooded animals, a contraction of the 

* The maximum force of this contraction has been estimated as hij^h 
as from eisrhty-flve to one hundred and fourteen pounds per squarc inch. 



I 



so The MUSCLES. [29, §6. 

muscles is often noticed long after the head has 
been cut off. 

Arrangement of the Muscles.* — The muscles are 
nearlj^ all arranged in pairs, each with its antagonist, 
so that, as they contract and expand alternately, the 
bone to which they are attached is moyed to and 
fro. (See p. 2 75.) 

If 3^ou grasp the arm tightly with your hand just 
aboye the elbow-joint, and bend the fore-arm, you 
will feel the muscle on the inside (biceps, a, Fig. 14) 
swell, and become hard and prominent, while the out- 
side muscle (triceps,/) will be relaxed. Now straighten 
the arm, and the swelling and hardness of the inside 
muscle will yanish, while the outside one will, in 
turn, become rigid. So, also, if you clasp the arm 
just below the elbow, and then open and shut the 
fingers, you can feel the alternate expanding and re- 
laxing of the muscles on opposite sides of the arms. 

If the muscles on one side of the face become 
palsied, those on the other side will draw the mouth 
that way. Squinting is caused by one of the straight 
muscles of the eye (Fig. 17) contracting more 
strongly than its antagonist. 

Kinds of Muscles. — There are two kinds of mus- 



* " Could we behold properly the muscxdar fibers in operation, nothing, 
as a mere mechanical exhibition, can be conceived more superb than the 
intricate and combined actions that must take place during our most com- 
mon movements. Look at a person running or leaping, or "watch the mo- 
tions of the eye. How rapid, how delicate, how comphcated, and yet how 
accurate, are the motions required ! Think of the endurance of such a 
muscle as the heart, that can contract, with a force equal to sixty pounds, 
seventy-five times every minute, for eighty years together, without being 
weary." 



130,31.] STMUCTURi: OF' 'PHE MUSCLES. Bl 

cles, the voluntary^ which are under the control of 
our win, and the involuntary, which are not. Thus 
our limbs stiffen or relax as we please, hut the heart 
beats on by day and by night. The eyelid, however, 
is both voluntary and involuntary, so that while we 
wink constantly without effort, we can, to a certain 
extent, restrain or control the motion. 

Structure of the Muscles.— If we take a piece of 
lean beef and wash out the red color, we can easily 
detect the fine fibers of which the meat is composed. 
In boiling corned beef for the table, the fibers often 
separate, owing to the dissolving of the delicate 
tissue which bound them together. By means of 
the microscope, we find that these fibers are made 
up of minute filaments 
{flhrils), and that each ^^^ 

fibril is composed of a row 
of sriiall cells arranged like 
a string of beads. This 
gives the muscles a pe- „. . . ,..,,. 

^ ^ Microscopic vieiv of a Muscle^ shoiving^ 

Culiar striped (striated) ^'^ one end, the Jibnllai ; and, at the other, 

the disks, or cells, of the fiber. 

appearance.* (Seep. 2 76.) 

The cells are filled with a fluid or semi-fluid mass of 

living (protoplasmic) matter. 

The binding of so many threads into one bundle f 

* The involuntary muscles consist generally of smooth, fibrous tissue, 
and form sheets or membranes in the walls of hollow oi'gans. By their 
contraction they change the size of cavities which they inclose. Some 
functions, however, like the action of the heart, or the movements of deg- 
hitition (swallowing), req\iire the rapid, vigorous conti-action, characteristic 
of the voluntary muscular tissue.— Fkint. 

t We shall learn hereafter how these fibers are tirmly tieii ti\gcther hy 
a mesh of fine connective tissue which dissolves in boiling, as just described. 





32 



THE MUSCLES. 



[31, 3'^. 



Tig. 16. 



confers great strength, according to a mechanical 
principle that we see exemplified in suspension 
bridges, where the weight is sustained, not by bars 
of iron, but by small wires 
twisted into massive ropes. 

The Tendons. — The ends of 
the muscles are generally at- 
tached to the bone by strong, 
flexible, but inelastic tendons.* 
The muscular fibers spring from 
the sides of the tendon, so that 
more of them can act upon the 
bone than if they went directly 
to it. Besides, the small, insen- 
sible tendon can better bear the 
exposure of passing over a joint, 
and be more easily lodged in 
some protecting groove, than the 
broad, sensitive muscle. This 
mode of attachment gives to the 
limbs strength, and elegance of 
form. Thus, for example, if the 
large muscles of the arm ex- 
tended to the hand, they would 
make it bulky and clumsy. The 
tendons, however, reach only to the wrist, whence 
fine cords pass to the fingers (Fig. 16). 

Here we notice two other admirable arrangements. 
1. If the long tendons at the ^T:'ist on contracting 




Tendons of the Hand. 



* The tendons maybe easily seen in tlie leg of a turkey as it conies on 
our table ; so we may studj' Physiology while we pick the bones. 



32, 33.J 



THE TENDONS, 



83 



should rise, projections would be made and thus the 
beauty of the slender joint be marred. To prevent 
this, a stout band or bracelet of ligament holds them 
down to their place. 2. In order to allow the tendon 
which moves the last joint of the finger to pass 
through, the tendon which moves the second joint 

Fig. 17. 




^ V 



Tke Musdes of the Bight Eye. A, superior straight ; B, superior oblique passing 
through a pulley, D ; Gr, inferior oblique ; H, external straight, and, back of it, (he 
internal straight muscle. 

divides at its attachment to the bone (Fig. 16). This 
is the most economical mode of packing the muscles, 
as any other practicable arrangement would increase 
the bulk of the slender finger. 

Since the tendon can not always pull in the direc- 
tion of the desired motion, some contrivance is nec- 
essary to meet the Avant. The tendon (B) belonging 
to one of the muscles of the eye, for example, passes 



84 



THE MUSCLES. 



[38, 34. 



through a ring of cartilage, and thus a rotary motion 
is secured. 

FiQ. 18. 

/ \ \ \ \ \ 






I. II. in. 

Tlie three classes of Levers.^ and also the foot as a Lever. 

The Levers of the Body.*— In producing the mo- 
tion's of the body, the muscles use the bones as 
levers. We see an illustration of the first class of 



Pig. 19 




The hand as a Lever of the third class. 

levers in the movements of the head. The back or 
front of the head is the weight to be lifted, the 

* A lever is a stiff bar resting on a point of support, called the fulcrum 
(F), and having connected with, it a ueight {W) to he lifted, and a jyower (P) 
to move it. There are three classes of levers according to the arrangement 
of the power, weight, and fulcrum. In the first class, the F is between the 
P and W; in the second, the W is between the P and F ; and in the third, 
the P is between the W and F (Pig. 18). A pump-handle is an example of 
the first ; a lemon-squeezer, of the second ; and a pair of fire-tongs, of the 
third. See "Popular Physics," pp. 81-83, for a full description of this sub- 
ject and for many illustrations. 



34,35.] THE LEVERS OF THE BODY. 35 

backbone is the fulcrum on which the lever turns, 
and the muscles at the back or front of the neck 
exert the poAver by which we toss or bow the head. 

When we raise the body on tiptoe, we have an 
instance of the second class. Here, our toes resting 
on the ground form the fulcrum, the muscles of the 
calf (gas-troc-ne'-mi-us, j, and so-le'-us. Fig. 1-i), act- 
ing through the tendon of the heel,''' are the power, 
and the weight is borne by the ankle-joint. 

An illustration of the third class is found in lift- 
ing the hand from the elbow. The hand is the weight, 
the elbow the fulcrum, and the power is applied by 
the biceps muscle at its attachment to the radius. 
(A, Fig. 19.) In this form of the lever there is a 
great loss of force, because it is applied at such a 
distance from the weight, but there is a gain of ve- 
locity, since the hand moves so far by such a slight 
contraction of the muscle. The hand is required to 
perform quick motions, and therefore this mode of 
attachment is here desirable. 

The nearer the power is applied to the resistance, 
the more easily the work is done. In the lower jaw, 
for example, the jaw is the weight, the fulcrum is 
the hinge-joint at the back, and the muscles (tem- 
poral, d, and the mas'-se-ter, c\ Fig. l^t) on each side 

* This is called the Tendon of Achilles {A; Fig. 14), and is so named 
because, as the fable runs, when Achilles was an infant his mother held 
him by the heel while she dipped him in the River Styx, whose water had 
the power of rendering one inv\ilnerable to any weapon. His heel, not 
being wet, was his weak point, to which Paris directed the fatal arrow.— 
"This tendon," says INIapother, "will bear one thousand pounds weight 
befoi'e it will bi-ealc." Tlu^ hovso is said to be " iKimstrung." and is vtMi- 
dered useless, when i\\v Teiulon of Ai-liillos is (.'ut. (See p. •:S4.') 



36 



THE MUSCLES. 



[35, 36. 



Pig. 20. 



are the power.* They act much closer to the resist- 
ance than those in the hand, since here we desire 
force, and there, speed. 

The Enlargement of the Bones at the Joints not 

only affords greater surface for the attachment of 
the muscles, as we have seen, but also 
enables them to work to better advan- 
tage. Thus, in Fig. 20 it is evident that 
a muscle acting in the line / 6 would not 
bend the lower limb so easily as if it 
were acting in the line /7z, since in the 
former case its force would be about all 
spent in drawing the bones more closely 
together, while in the latter it would pull 
more nearly at a right angle. Thus the 
tendon /, hj passing over the patella, 
which is itself pushed out by the pro- 
tuberance t> of the thigh-bone, pulls at a larger 
angle, t and so the leg is thrown forward with ease 
in walking and with great force in kicking. 

How We Stand Erect. — The joints play so easily, 
and the center of gravity in the body is so far above 
the foot, that the skeleton can not of itself hold our 
bodies upright. Thus it requires the action of many 




27ie Knee-joint; 
h., the patella ; 
f, the tendon. 



* We may feel the contraction of the masseter by placing our hand on 
the face when we work the jaw, while the temporal can be readily detected 
by putting the fingers on the temple while we are chewing. The tendon of 
the muscle (digastric)— one of those which open the jaw— passes through a 
pulley (c, Fig. 14) somewhat like the one in the eye. 

t The chief use of the processes of the spine (Fig. 6) and other bones 
is, in the same way, to throw out the point on which the power acts as far 
from the fulcrum as possible. The projections of the ulna ("funny bone") 
behind the elbow, and that of the heel-bone to which the Tendon of 
Achilles is attached, are excellent illustrations (Fig. 1). 



36, 37.] 



HOW WE WALK. 



37 



Fig. 21. 



E 



muscles to maintain this position. The head so rests 
upon the spine as to tend to fall in 
front, but the muscles of the neck steady 
it in its place.* The hips incline for- 
ward, but are held erect by the strong 
muscles of the back. The trunk is nicely 
balanced on the head of the thigh-bones. 
The great muscles of the thigh acting 
over the knee-pan tend to bend the body 
forward, but the muscles of the calf neu- 
tralize this action. The ankle, the knee, 
and the hip lie in nearly the same line, 
and thus the weight of the body rests 
directly on the key-stone of the arch of 
the foot. So perfectly do these muscles 
act that we never think of them until 
science calls our attention to the subject, 
and yet to acquire the necessary skill to 
use them in our infancy needed patient 
lessons, much time, and many hard knocks. 
How We Walk. — Walking is as com- 
plex an act as standing. It is really a 
perilous performance, which has become 
safe only because of constant practice. 
We see how violent it is when we run 
against a post in the dark, and find with what headk^ng 

* In animals the jaws are so heavy, and the place where the head and 
spine join is so far back, that there can be no balance as there is in n\an. 
There are therefore large muscles in their necks. We readily find that we 
have none if we get on " all fours " and try to hold up the head. On the 
other hand, gorillas and apes can not stand erect like man, for the i*eason 
that their head, trunk, legs, etc., are not balanced by mxiscles, so as to be 
in line wth one another. 



Action of (he 
Mvsdes which 
keep the body 
erect. 



do THE MUSCLES. [37,38. 

force we were hurling ourselves forward. Holmes lias 
well defined walking as a perpetual falling with a 
constant self-recovery. Standing on one foot, we let 
the body fall forward, while we swing the other leg 
ahead like a pendulum. Planting that foot on the 
ground, to save the body from falling farther, we 
then swing the first foot forward again to repeat the 
same operation.* 

The shorter the pendulum, the more rapidly it 
vibrates ; and so short-legged people take quicker 
and shorter steps than long-legged ones.f We are 
shorter when walking than when standing still, 
because of this falling forward to take a step in ad- 
vance.}; 

In running, we incline the body more, and so, as 
it were, fall faster. When we walk, one foot is on 
the ground all the time, and there is an instant 
when both feet are planted upon it ; but in running 
there is an interval of time in each step when both 
feet are off the ground, and the body is wholly un- 
supported. As we step alternately with the feet, we 
are inclined to turn the bod}^ first to one side and 



* It is a curious fact that one side of the body tends to out-walk tlie 
other ; and so, when a mg^n is lost in the woods, he often goes in a circle, 
and at last comes round to the spot whence he started. 

t In this respect, Tom Thumb was to Magrath, whose skeleton, eight 
and one half feet high, is now in the Dublin Miiseum, what a little fast- 
ticking, French mantel-clock is to a big, old-fashioned, upright, corner 
time-piece. 

X Women find that a gown that will swing clear of the ground when 
they are standing still, will drag the street when they are walking. The 
length of the step may be increased by muscular effort, as when a line of 
soldiers keep step in spite of their having legs of different lengths. Such a 
mode of walking is necessarily fatiguing. (See p. 280.) 



38,39.] THE MUSCULAR SENSE. 39 

then to the other. This movement is sometimes 
counterbalanced by swinging the hand on the oppo- 
site side.* 

The Muscular Sense. — When we lift an object, 
we feel a sensation of weight, which we can compare 
with that experienced in lifting another body.f By 
care we may cultivate this sense so as to form a 
very precise estimate of the weight of a body by 

* In ordinary walking the speed is nearly four miles an hour, and 
can be kept up for a long period. But exercise and a special aptitude for 
it enable some men to walk great distances in a relatively short space of 
time. Trained walkers have gone seventy-five miles in twenty hours, and 
walked the distance of thirty-seven miles at the rate of five miles an hour. 
The mountaineers of the Alps are generally good walkers, and some of 
them are not less remarkable for endurance than for speed. Jacques Bal- 
mat, who was the first to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, at sixteen 
years of age could walk from the hamlet of the Pelerins to the mountain 
of La Cote in two hours,— a distance which the best-trained travelers re- 
quired from five to six hours to get over. At the time of his last attempt to 
reach the top of Mont Blanc, this same guide, then twenty years old, 
passed six days and four nights without sleeping or reposing a single mo- 
ment. One of his sons, Edouard Balmat, left Paris to join his regiment at 
Genoa ; he reached Chamonix the fifth day at evening, having walked 
three hundred and forty miles. After resting two days, he set off again for 
Genoa, where he arrived in two days. Several years afterward, this same 
man left the baths at Loueche at two o'clock in the morning, and reached 
Chamonix at nine in the evening, having walked a distance eqvial to about 
seventy-five miles in nineteen hours. In 1844, an old guide of De Saussure, 
eighty years old, left the hamlet of Prats, in the valley of Chamonix, in 
the afternoon, and reached the Grand-Mulets at ten in the evening; then, 
after resting seme hours, he climbed the glacier to the vicinity of the 
Grand Plateau, which has an altitude of about thirteen thoiisand feet, and 
• then returned to his village without stopping.— T'Fo«f7e?v of the Body. 

+ If a small ivory ball be allowed to roll down the cheek toward the 
lips, it will appear to increase in weight. In general, the more sensitive 
parts of the body recognize smaller differences in weight, and the right 
hand is more acciirate than the left. We are very apt, however, to jiidge 
of the weight of a body from previous conceptions. Thus, shortly after Sir 
Humphrey Davy discovered the metal potassium, he placed a piece of it in 
the hand of Dr. Pierson, who exclaimed : " Bless me I How heavy it is I " 
Really, however, potassium is so light that it will float on water like 
cork. 



40 THE MUSCLES. [39,40. 

balancing it in the hand. The muscular sense is 
useful to us in many ways. It guides us in standing 
or moving. We gratify it when we walk erect and 
with an elastic step, and by dancing, jumping, skat- 
ing, and gymnastic exercises. 

Necessity of Exercise. — The effect of exercise 
upon a muscle is very marked.* By use it grows 
larger, and becomes hard, compact, and darker-col- 
ored; by disuse it decreases in size, and becomes 
soft, flabby, and pale. 

Violent exercise, however, is injurious, since we 
then tear down faster than nature can build up. 
Feats of strength are not only hurtful, but danger- 
ous. Often the muscles are strained or ruptured, and 
blood-vessels burst in the effort to outdo one's com- 
panions.f (See p. 2 78.) 

Two thousand years ago, Isocrates, the Greek 
rhetorician, said : " Exercise for health, not for 
strength." The cultivation of muscle for its own 
sake is a return to barbarism, while it enfeebles the 
mind, and ultimately the body. The ancient gym- 
nasts are said to have become prematurely old, and 
the trained performers of our own day soon suffer 
from the strain they put upon their muscular sys- 
tem. Few men have sufficient vigor to become both 

* The greater size of the breast (pectoral muscle) of a pigeon, as com- 
pared with that of a duck, shows how muscle increases with use. The 
breast of a chicken is white because it is not used for Hight, and therefore 
gets little blood. 

t Instances have been known of children falling dead from ha\dng 
carried to excess so pleasant and healthful an amusement as jumping the 
rope, and of persons rupturing the Tendon of Achilles in dancing. The 
competitive lifting of heavy weights is unwise, sometimes fatal. 



40,41.] TIME FOR EXERCISE. 41 

athletes and scholars. Exercise should, therefore, 
merely supplement the deficiency of our usual em- 
ployment. A sedentary life needs daily^ moderate 
exercise, which always stops short of fatigue. This 
is a law of health. (See p. 280.) 

No education is complete which fails to provide 
for the development of the muscles. Recesses should 
be as strictly devoted to play as study-hours are to 
work. Were gymnastics or calisthenics as regular an 
exercise as grammar or arithmetic, fewer pupils 
would be compelled to leave school on account of ill 
health ; while spinal curvatures, weak backs, and 
ungraceful gaits would no longer characterize so 
many of our best institutions. 

Time for Exercise. — We should not exercise after 
long abstinence from food, nor immediately after a 
meal, unless the meal or the exercise be very light. 
There is an old-fashioned prejudice in favor of exer- 
cise before breakfast — an hour suited to the strong 
and healthy, but entirely unfitted to the weak and 
delicate. On first rising in the morning, the pulse is 
low, the skin relaxed, and the system susceptible to 
cold. Feeble persons, therefore, need to be braced 
with food before they brave the out-door air. 

What Kind of Exercise to Take. — For children, 
games are unequaled. Walking, the universal exer- 
cise,* is beneficial, as it. takes one into the open air 

* The ciistom of wulking, so prevalent in England, has tlonbtloss nnioh 
to do with the superior physiqne of its people. It is considered nothing for 
a -woman to take a walk of eight or ten miles, and long pedestrian exexir- 
sions are made to all parts of the coimtry. The benefits which accr\io 
from snch an open-air life are sadly needed by the women of o\ir own 



42 THE MUSCLES. [41,42. 

and sunlight. Running is better, since it employs 
more muscles, but it must not be pushed to excess, 
as it taxes the heart, and may lead to disease of 
that organ. Rowing is more effectual in its general 
development of the system. Swimming employs the 
muscles of the whole body, and is a valuable acquire- 
ment, as it may be the means of saving life. Horse- 
back riding is a fine accom]3lishment, and refreshes 
both mind and body. Gymnastic or calisthenic ex- 
ercises bring into play all the muscles of the body, 
and when carefully selected, and not immoderately 
employed, are preferable to any other mode of in- 
door exercise.* (See p. 280.) 

land. A walk of half a dozen miles should be a pleasant recreation for anj^ 
healthy person. 

* The employment of the muscles in exercise not only benefits their 
especial structure, but it acts on the whole system. When the muscles are 
put in action, the capillarj'- blood-vessels with which they are supplied 
become more rapidly charged with blood, and active changes take place, 
not only in the muscles, but in all the surrounding tissues. The heart is 
required to supply more blood, and accordingly beats more rapidly in order 
to meet the demand. A larger quantity of blood is sent through the lungs, 
and larger supphes of oxygen are taken in and carried to the various 
tissues. The oxygen, by combining with the carbon of the blood and the 
tissues, engenders a larger quantity of heat, which produces an action on 
the skin, in order that the superfluous warmth may be disposed of. The 
skin is thus exercised, as it were, and the sudoriparous and sebaceous 
glands are set at work. The lungs and skin are brought into operation, 
and the lungs throw off large quantities of carbonic acid, and the skin 
large quantities of water, containing in solution matters which, if retained, 
would produce disease in the body. Wherever the blood is sent, changes 
of a healthful character occur. The brain and the rest of the nervous 
system are invigorated, the stomach has its powers of digestion improved, 
and the liver, pancreas, and other organs perform their functions with 
more vigor. By want of exercise, the constituents of the food which pass 
into the blood are not oxidized, and products which produce disease are 
engendered. The introduction of fresh supplies of oxygen induced by exer- 
cise oxidizes these products, and renders them harmless. As a rule, those 
who exeroise most in the open air will live the longest.— Lankester, 



4S,43.] DISEASES, ETC. 48 

The Wonders of the Muscles. — The grace, ease, 
and rapidity with which the muscles contract are 
astonishing. By practice, they acquire a facility 
which we call mechanical. The voice may utter one 
thousand five hundred letters in a minute, yet each 
requires a distinct position of the vocal organs. We 
train the muscles of the fingers till they glide over 
the keys of the piano, executing the most exquisite 
and difficult harmony. In writing, each letter is 
formed by its peculiar motions, yet we make them 
so unconsciously that a skillful penman will describe 
beautiful curves while thinking only of the idea that 
the sentence is to express. The mind of the violinist 
is upon the music which his right hand is executing, 
while his left determines the length of the string 
and the character of each note so carefully that not 
a false sound is heard, although the variation of a 
hair's breadth would cause a discord. In the arm of 
a blacksmith, the biceps muscle may grow into the 
solidity almost of a club ; the hand of a prize-fighter 
will strike a blow like a sledge-hammer ; while the 
engraver traces lines invisible to the naked eye, and 
the fingers of the blind acquire a delicacy that 
almost supplies the place of the missing sense. 

Diseases, etc. — 1. St. Vitus' Dance is a disease of 
the voluntary muscles, whereby they are in frequent, 
irregular, and spasmodic motion beyond the control 
of the will. All causes of excitement, and especially 
of fear, should be avoided, and the general, health of 
the patient invigorated, as this disease is closely con- 
nected with a derangement of the nervous system. 



44 THE MUSCLES. [43,44. 

2. Oonvulsions are an iiiYoluntary contraction of 
the muscles. Consciousness is wanting, while the 
limbs may be stiff or in spasmodic action. (See pi 
261.) 

3. Locked-jaw is a disease in which there are 
spasms and a contraction of the muscles, usually be-^ 
ginning in the lower jaw. It is serious, often fatal, 
yet it is sometimes caused by as trivial an injury as 
the stroke of a whip-lash, the lodgment of a bone 
in the throat, a fish-hook in the finger, or a tack in 
the sole of the foot. 

4. Gout is characterized by an acute pain located 
chiefly in the small joints of the foot, especially 
those of the great toe, which become swoUen and 
extremely sensitive. It is generally accompanied by 
an excess of uric acid in the blood, and a deposit of 
urate of soda about the affected joint. G-out is often 
the result of high living, and of too much animal 
food. It is frequently inherited. 

5. Rheumatism affects mainl}^ the connective, white, 
fibrous tissue of the larger joints. While gout is the 
punishment of the rich who live luxuriously, rheu- 
matism afflicts alike the poor and the rich. There 
are two common forms of rheumatism — the inflamma- 
tory or acute, and the chronic. The latter is of long 
continuance ; the former terminates more speedily. 
The acute form is probably a disease of the blood, 
which carries with it some poisonous matter that is 
deposited where the fibrous tissue is most abundant. 
The disease files capricioush^ from one joint to an- 
other, and the pain caused by even the slightest 



I 



44,45.] DISEASES, ETC. 45 

motion deprives the sufferer of the use of the dis- 
abled part and its muscles. Its chief danger lies in 
the possibility of its affecting the vital organs. 
Chronic rheumatism — the result of repeated attacks 
of the acute — leads to great suffering, and oftentimes 
to disorganization of the joints and an interference 
with the movements of the heart. 

6. Lumbago is an inflammation of the lumbar 
muscles and fascia.* It may be so moderate as to 
produce only a "lame back," or so severe as to dis- 
able, as in the case of what is popularly termed a 
"crick in the back." Strong swimmers who some- 
times drown without apparent cause are supposed 
to be seized in this way. 

7. A Ganglion J or what is vulgarly called a 
"weak" or "weeping" sinew, is the swelling of a 
bursa, t It sometimes becomes so distended by fluid 
as to be mistaken for bone. If on binding something- 
hard upon it for a few days it does not disappear, a 
physician will remove the liquid by means of a hyp- 
odermic syringe, or perhaps cause it to be absorbed 
by an external application of iodine. 

* Lumbago is really a form of myalgia, a disease which has its seat in 
the muscles, and may thus affect any part of the body. Doiibtless much of 
what is commonly called "liver" or "kidney complaint" is only, in one 
case, myalgia of the chest or abdominal walls near the liver, or, in the 
other, of the back and loins near the kidneys. Chronic liver disease is 
comparatively rare in the Northern States, and pain in the side is not a 
prominent symptom ; while certain diseases of the kidneys, which are as 
surely fatal as pulmonary consumption, are not attended by pain in tl\e 
back opposite these organs.— Wey. 

t A bursa is a small sack containing a lubricating fluid to pivvent 
friction where tendons play over hard surfaces. There is one shaped like 
an hour-glass on the wrist, just at the edge of the palm. By pressing back 
the liquid it contains, this bursa may be clearly seen. 



46 THE MUBCLESi [45,46, 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 

1. "WTiat class of lever is the foot ^w'lien ^xe lift a Weiglit on the toes? 

2. Explain the movement of the body backward and forward, when 
resting upon the thigh-bone as a fulcrum. 

3. What class of lever do we use when we lift the foot while sitting 
down? 

4. Explain the swing of the arm from the shoulder. 

5. "What class of lever is used in bending our lingers? 

6= "What class of lever is our foot when we tap the ground with our 
toes ? 

7. What class of lever do we use when we raise oiu-selves from a 
stooping position? 

8. What class of lever is the foot when we walk? 

9. Why can we raise a heavier weight with our hand when lifting 
from the elbow than from the shoulder? 

10. "What class of lever do we employ when we are hopping, the thigh- 
bone being bent up toward the body and not used ? 

11. Describe the motions of the bones when we are using a gimlet. 

12. Why do we tire when we stand erect? 

13. Why does it rest us to change our work? 

14. Why and when is dancing a beneficial exercise ? 

15. Why can we exert greater force with the back teeth than wdth the 
front ones? 

16. Why do we lean forward when we wish to rise from a chair ? 

17. Why does the projection of the heel-bone make walking easier? 

18. Does a horse travel with less fatigue over a flat than a hilly 
country? 

19. Can you move youi^ upper jaw ? 

20. Are people naturally right or left-handed ? 

21. Why can so few persons move their ears by the muscles? 

22. Is the blacksmith's right arm healthier than the left? 

23. Boys often, though foolishly, thrust a pin into the flesh just above 
the knee. Why is it not painful? 

24. Will ten minutes' practice in a gymnasium answer for a day's 
exercise ? 

25. Why would an elastic tendon be unfitted to transmit the motion of 
a muscle ? 

26. WTien one is struck ^-iolently on the head, why does he instantly 
fan? 

27. AVh-at is the cause of the difference between light and dark meat in 
a fowl? 



III. 

The Skin. 



A PROTECTioiq' from the outer world, it is our only means of communi- 
cating ■with. it. Insensible itself, it is the organ of touch. It feels the 
pressure of a hair, yet bears the weight of the body. It yields to every 
motion of that which it wraps and holds in place. It hides from view the 
delicate organs within, yet the faintest tint of a thought shines through, 
while the soul paints upon it, as on a canvas, the richest and rarest of 
colors 



ANALYSIS OF THE SKIN. 



1. The Structijee 
THE Skin. 



2. The Haxr an-d the 
K'ails. 



3. The 



Mucous Mem- 
be AifE. 



4. The Teeth. 



5. The G-lands. 



6. HyaiENE 



7. Diseases. 



1. The Cutis ; its Composition and Character. 

2. The Cuticle ; its Composition and Character. 

3. The Value of the Cuticle. 

4. The Complexion. 
' a. Desa^ption. 

b. 3Iethod of Groicth. 

c. As an Bistimment of 
Feeling. 

d. Indestructibility of the 
Hair. 



1. The Hair. 



2. The Nails. 



( b. Method of Growth. 



1. The Structure. 

2. Connective Tissue. 

3. Eat. 

1. 



1. The Two Sets. 



Xumber and Kinds of Teeth. 

J 1. The Milk Teeth. 

1 2. The Permanent Teeth. 

2. Structure of the Teeth. 

3. The Setting of the Tooth in the Jaw. 

4. The Decay of the Teeth. 

5. The Preservation of the Teeth. 



' 1. 


The Two Kinds.... - 


1. Oil Glands. 

2. Perspiratory Glands. 


2. 


The Perspiration. 




3. 


The Absorbing Power of the Skin. (See 




Lymphatics.) 




fl- 


About "Washing and Bathing. 


2. 


The Reaction. 




3. 


Sea-bathing. 


'■ a. General Pnndples. 

b. Linen. 

c. Cotton. 

d. Woolen. 


• 4. 


Clothing - 


e. Flannel. 

f . Colcrr of Clothing. 

g. Structure of Clothing 
. h. Insufficient Clothing. 


1. 


Erysipelas. 




2. 


Salt Eheum. 




3. 


Corns. 




4. 


In-growing Nails. 




5. 


"Warts, 




L6. 


Chilblains. 





THE SKIN. 

The Skin is a tough, thin, close-fitting garment 
for the protection of the tender fiesli. Its perfect 
elasticity beautifully adapts it to every motion of 
the body. We shall learn hereafter that it is more 
than a mere covering, being an active organ, which 
does its part in the work of keeping in order the 
house in which we live. It oils itself to preserve its 
smoothness and delicacy, replaces itself as fast as it 
wears out, and is at once the perfection of use and 
beauty. 



I. STRUCTURE OF THE SKIN. 

Cutis and Cuticle. — What we commonly call the 
skin — viz., the part raised by a blister — is onl}^ the 
cuticle* or covering of the cutis or true skin. The 
latter is full of nerves and blood-vessels, while the 
former neither bleeds f nor gives rise to pain, neither 
suffers from heat nor feels the cold. 



* Cvtictila, little skin. It is often styled the scarf -skin, and also the 
epidermis {epi, upon ; and derma, skin). 

t Wo notice this in shaving ; for if a razor goes holow the cuticle, it is 
followed by pain and blood. So insensible is this outer layer that wo can 
run a pin through the thick mass at the roots of the nails without dis- 
comfort. 



50 



THE SKtK 



[49, 60. 



The cuticle is composed of small, flat cells or 
fecales. These are constantly shed from the surface 
in the form of scurf, dandruff, etc^ but are as con- 
stantl}^ renewed from the cutis* below. 

Under the microscope^ we can see the round cells 
of the cuticle, and how the}^ are flattened and hard- 
ened as they are forced to the surface. The immense 

Fig. 22. 




A repi-esents a vertical section of tM Cuticle. B, lateral tiew of the Cells. C, flat 
side of scales like d, magnified 250 diameters., shovAng the nucleated cells transformed 
into broad scales. 

number of these cells surpasses comprehension. In 
one square inch of the cuticle, counting only those 
in a single layer, there are over a billion horny scales, 
each complete in itself. — Haetixg. 

Value of the Cuticle. — In the palm of the hand, 
the sole of the foot, and other parts especially liable 
to injury, the cuticle is very thick. This is a most 
admirable provision for their protection, f By use^ it 



* We see how rapidly this change goes on by noticing how soon a stain 
of any kind disappears from the skin. A snake throws off its cuticle entire, 
and at regiilar intervals. 

t We can hold the hand in strong brine with impunity, but the smart 
will quickly tell us when there is even a scratch in the skin. Vaccine 
matter must be inserted beneath the cuticle to take effect. This membrane 
doubtless prevents many poisonous substances from entering the system. 



50,51.] THE COMPLEXION. 51 

becomes callous and horny. The boy who goes out 
barefoot for the first time, "treading as if on eggs," 
can soon run Avhere he pleases among thistles and 
over stones. The blacksmith handles hot iron with- 
out pain, while the mason lays stones and works in 
lime, without scratching or corroding his flesh. 

The Complexion. — In the freshly-made cells on 
the lower side of the cuticle, is a pigment composed 
of tiny grains.* In the varying tint of this coloring- 
matter, lies the difference of hue between the blonde 
and the brunette, the European and the African. 
In the purest complexion, there is some of this pig- 
ment, which, however, disappears as the fresh, round, 
soft cells next the cutis change into the old, flat, 
horny scales at the surface. 

Scars are white, because this part of the cuticle 
is not restored. The sun has a powerful effect upon 
the coloring-matter, and so we readily " tan '' on ex- 
posure to its rays. If the color gathers in spots, it 
forms freckles, f 

* These grains are about ^sm of an inch in diameter, and, ciiriously 
enough, do not appear opaque, but transparent and nearly colorless.— 
Marshall. 

t This action of the sun on the pigment of the skin is very marked. 
Even among the Africans, the skin is observed to lose its intense black 
color in those who live for many months in the shades of the forest. It is 
said that Asiatic and African women confined within the walls of the 
harem, and thus secluded from the sun, are as fair as Europeans. Among 
the Jews who have settled in Northern Europe, are many of light com- 
plexion, while those who live in India arc as dark as the Hindoos. Intense 
heat also increases this coloring-matter, and thus a furnace-man's skin, even 
where protected by clothing, becomes completely bi'onzed. The black pig- 
ment has been known to disappear d\iring severe illness, and a lighter colm- 
to be developed in its place. Among the negroes, are sometimes foimd 
people who have no complexion, i. e., there is no coloring-matter in their 
skin, hair, or the iris of their eyes. These persons are called Albinos, 



52 



THE SKIN. 



[51, 52. 



II. HAIR AND NAILS. 



The Hair and the Nails are modified forms of the 
cuticle. 

The Hair is a protection from heat and cold, and 
shields the head from blows. It is found on nearly 
all parts of the body, except the 
palms of the hands and the soles 
of the feet. The outside of a hair 
is hard and compact, and consists 
of a layer of colorless scales, which 
overlie one another like the shingles 
of a house ; the interior is porous,* 
and probably conveys the liquids 
b}^ which it is nourished. 

Each hair grows from a tiny 
bulb (papilla), which is an elevation 
of the cutis at the bottom of a little 
hollow in the skin. From the sur- 
face of this bulb, the hair is pro- 
duced, like the cuticle, by the constant .formation of 
new cells at the bottom. When the hair is pulled 
out, this bulb, if uninjured, will produce a new one ; 
but, when once destroyed, it will never grow again, f 
The hair has been known to whiten in a single 




A ffair, magnified 600 
diameters. S, t7ie sac ifol- 
licle); 'P, the papilla, shoiv- 
ing the cells and the blood- 
vessels (V). 



* In order to examine a hair, it should be put on tlie slide of the 
microscope, and covered with a thin glass, while a few drops of alcohol 
are allowed to flow between the cover and the slide. This causes the air, 
which fills the hair and prevents our seeing its structure, to escape. 

t Hair grows at the rate of about five to seven inches in a year. It is 
said to grow after death. This appearance is due to the fact that by the 
shrinking of the skin the part below the surface is caused to project, which 
is especially noticeable in the beard., 



52, 53.] 



THE HAIR. 



53 



Pig. 24. 



night by fear, fright, or nervous excitement. When 
the color has once changed, it 
can not be restored.* (See p. 
285.) 

Wherever hair exists, tiny 
muscles are found, interlaced 
among the fibers of the skin. 
These, when contracting under 
the influence of cold or elec- 
tricity, pucker up the skin, 
and cause the hair to stand on 
end.f The hairs themselves 
are destitute of feeling. Nerves, 
however, are found in the hol- 
lows in which the hair is 
rooted, and so one feels pain 
when it is pulled.t Thus the 
insensible hairs become won- 
derfully delicate instruments 
to convey an impression of even 
the slightest touch. 




A, a perspiratory tube with its 
gland ; B, a hair tvitJi a muscle 
and tioo oil-glands ; C, cuticle ,• 
D, the papillce ; and E, fat-cells. 



* Hair dyes, or so-called "hair restorers," are almost invariably delete- 
rious substances, depending for their coloring properties upon the action 
of lead or lunar caustic. Frequent instances of hair-poisoning have oc- 
curred, owing to the common use of such dangerous articles. If the growth 
of the hair be impaired, the general constitution or the skin needs treat- 
ment. This is the work of a skillful physician, and'not of a patent remedy. 
Dame Fashion has her repentant freaks as well as her ruinous follies, and 
it is a healthful sign that the era of universal hair-dyeing has been blotted 
out from her present calendar, and the gray hairs of age are now honored 
with the highest place in " style " as well as in good sense and cleaiiliness. 

t In horses and other animals which are able to shake the whole skin, 
this muscular tissue is much more fully developed than in man. 

X These nerves are especially abundant in the whiskoi*s of the cat. 
which are used as feelers. 



54 THE SKIN. [53,54. 

Next to the teeth and bones, the hair is the least 
destructible part of the body, and its color is often 
preserved for many years after the other portions 
have gone to decay.* 

The Nails protect the ends of the tender finger, 
and toe, and give us power more firmly to grasp and 
easily to pick up any object we may desire. They 
enable us to perform a hundred little, mechanical 
acts which else were impossible. At the same time, 
their delicate color and beautiful outline give a finish 
of ornament to that exquisite instrument, the hand. 
The nail is firmly set in a groove (matrix) in the 
cuticle, from which it grows at the root in length f 
and from beneath in thickness. So long as the ma- 
trix at the root is uninjured, the nail will be replaced 
after any accident. (See p. 288.) 



III. THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE. 

Structure. — At the edges of the openings into the 
body, the skin seems to stop and give place to a 
tissue which is redder, more sensitive, more liable to 
bleed, and is moistened by a fluid, or mucus, as it is 
called. Reall}^, however, the skin does not cease, but 
passes into a more delicate covering of the same 

* Tine downy hairs, such, as are general upon tlie body, have been 
detected in the little fragments of skin found beneath the heads of the 
nails by which, centuries ago, certain robbers were fastened to the church 
doors, as a punishment for their sacrilege. 

t By making a little mark on the nail near the root we can see, week 
by week, how rapidly this process goes on, and so form some idea of what 
a multitude of cells miist be transformed into the horny matter of the nail. 



51,55.] CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 55 

general structure, viz., an outer, hard, bloodless, in- 
sensible layer, and an inner, soft, sanguine, nervous 
one.* Thus every part of the body is wrapped in a 
kind of double bag, made of teugh skin on the out- 
side, and tender mucous membrane on the inside. 

Connective Tissue. — The cutis and the correspond- 
ing layer of the mucous membrane consist chiefly of 
a fibrous substance interlaced like felt. It is called 
connective tissue, because it connects all the different 
parts of the body. It spreads from the cutis, invests 
muscles, bones, and cartilages, and thence passes 
into the mucous membrane. So thoroughly does it 
permeate the body, that, if the other tissues were 
destroyed, it would give a perfect model of every 
organ, t It can be seen in a piece of meat as a deli- 
cate substance lying between the layers of muscle, 
where it serves to bind together the numerous fibers 
of which they are composed. 

* With a dull knife, we can scrape from the mucous membrane wliich 
lines the mouth some of the cuticle for examination under the microscope. 
In a similar way, we can obtain cuticle from the surface of the body for 
study and comparison. 

t It is curious to notice how our body is wrapped in membrane. On 
the outside, is the skin protecting from exterior injviry, and, on the inside, 
is the mucous membrane reaching from the lips to the innermost air-cell 
of the lungs. Every organ is enveloped in its membrane. Every bone has 
its sheath. Every socket is lined. Even the separate libers of muscles 
have their covering tissue. The brain and the spinal cord are triply 
wrapped, while the eye is only a membranous globe filled with fluid. These 
membranes protect and support the organs they enfold, but, with that wise 
economy so characteristic of nature every-where, they have also an impor- 
tant function to perform. They are the ,filfe>'ft of the body. Throiigh their 
pores pass alike the elements of growth, and the retiirning products of 
waste. On one side, bathed by the blood, they choose from it suitable food 
for the organ they envelop, and many of them in their tiny cells, by some 
mysterious process, form new products,— p\tt the finishing touches, as it 
were, upon the material ere it is deposited in the body. 



bb THE SKIN. [55,56. 

Connective tissue yields gelatine on boiling, and 
is the part which tans when hides are mannfactuerd 
into leather. It is very elastic, so that when you 
remove your finger after pressing upon the skin, no 
indentation is left.* It varies greatly in character,^ 
from the mucous membrane, where it is soft and 
tender, to the ligaments and tendons which it largely 
composes, Avhere it is strong and dense, f 

Fat is deposited as an oil in the cells J; of this 
tissue, just beneath the skin (Fig. 24), giving round- 
ness and plumpness to the body, and acting as an 
excellent non-conductor for the retention of heat. 
It collects as pads in the hollows of the bones, 
around the joints, and between the muscles, causing 
them to glide more easily upon each other. As 
marrow, it nourishes the skeleton, and also dis- 
tributes the shock of any jar the limb may sustain. 

It is noticeable, however, that fat does not gather 
within the cranium, the lungs, or the eyelids, where 
its accumulation would clog the organs. 

* In dropsy, this elasticity is lost by distension, and there is a kind of 
"pitting," as it is called, produced by pressure. 

t The leather made from this tissue varies as greatly, from the tough, 
thick ox-hide, to the soft, pliable kid and chamois skin. 

t So tiny are these cells, that there are over sixty-five m.illion in a 
cubic inch of fat. As they are kept moist, the liquid does not ooze out; 
but, on drying, it comes to the surface, and thus a piece of fat feels oily 
when exposed to the air. The quantity of fat varies with the state of nutri- 
tion. In corpulent persons, the masses of fat beneath the skin, in th# me- 
sentery, on the surface of the heart and great vessels, between the muscles, 
and in the neighborhood of the nerves, are considerably increased. Con- 
versely, in the emaciated we sometimes find beneath the skin nucleated 
cells, which contain only one oil-drop. Many masses of fat which have an 
important relation to muscular actions— such as the fat of the orbit or the 
cheek— do not disappear in the most emaciated object. Even in starvation, 
the fatty substances of the brain and spinal cord are retained.— Valentin. 



56,57.] THE TEETH. 57 



IV. THE TEETH. 

The Teeth* are thirty-two in all, — there being 
eight in each half-jaw, similarly shaped and arranged. 
In each set of eight, the two nearest the middle of 
the jaw have wide, sharp, chisel-like edges, fit for 
cutting, and hence are called incisors. The next 
one corresponds to the great tearing or holding- 
tooth of the dog, and is styled the canine, or eye- 
tooth. The next two have broader crowns, with two 
points, or cusps,- and are hence termed the Mcuspids. 
The remaining three are much broader, and, as they 
are used to crush the food, are called the grinders, 
or molars. The incisors and eye-teeth have one 
fang, or root; the others have two or three fangs. 

The Milk-teeth. — We are provided with two sets 
of teeth. - The first, or milk-teeth, are small and only 
twenty in number. In each half-jaw there are two 
incisors, one canine, and two molars. The middle 
incisors are usually cut about the age of seven 
months, the others at nine months, the first molars 
at twelve months, the canines at eighteen months, 
and the remaining molars at two or three years of 
age. The lower teeth precede the corresponding 

* Although the teeth are always found in connection with the skeleton, 
and are, therefore, figured as a part of it (Fig. 1), yet they do not properly 
belong to the bones of the body, and are merely set in the solid jaw to in- 
sure solidity. They are hard, and resemble bony matter, yet they arc 
neither true bone nor are they formed in the same manner. "They are 
properly appendages of the mucous membrane, and are developed from it." 
— LEinY. " They belong to the Tegumentary System, which, speaking goner- 
ally of animals, includes teeth, nails, horns, scales, and hairs."— Marshall. 
They are therefore classed with the mucous membrane, ixs are the nails 
and hair with the skin. 



58 



THE -SKIN. 



[57, 58. 




upper ones. The time often varies, but the order 
seldom. 

The Permanent Teeth. — At six years, when the 
first set is usually still perfect, the jaws contain the 

crowns of all the second, 
"^^^' ^^" '^'^ except the wisdom-teeth. 

About this age, to meet 
the wants of the growing 
body, the crowns of the 
permanent set begin to 
press against the roots of 
the milk-teeth, which, be- 
coming absorbed, leave the 
loosened teeth to drop out, 
while the new ones rise 
and occup3^ their places.* 
The central incisors ap- 
pear at about seven years of age ; the others at 
eight ; the first bicuspids at nine, the second at ten ; 
the canines at eleven or twelve ; the second f molars 
at twelve or thirteen, and the last, or wisdom-teeth, 
a^re sometimes delayed until the tAventy-second year, 
or even later. 

Structure of the Teeth. — The interior of the 
tooth consists principally of dentine, a dense sub- 
stance resembling bone.J The crown of the tooth, 



The Teeth at the age of six and one half 
I, the incisors ; O, the canine ; 
M, the molars ; the last molar is the first 
of the permanent teeth ; P, sacs of the 
permanent incisors ; C, of the canine ; 
B, of the bicuspids ; IST, of the second mo- 
lar ; the sac of the third molar is empty. 
—Marshall. 



* K the milk-teetli do not promptly loosen on tlie appearance of the 
second set, the former should be at once removed to permit the permanent 
teeth to assume their natural places. If any fail to come in regtdarly, or 
if they crowd the others, a competent dentist should be consixlted. 
t The first molar appears much earlier. (See Mg. 25.) 
% In the tusk of the elephant this is known as ivorj'. 



58, 59.] 



THE DECAY OF THE TEETH. 



59 



Fm. 26. 



\f- 



-. ^' 



•A 



which is exposed to wear, is protected by a sheath 
of enamel. This is a hard, ghstening, white sub- 
stance, containing only two and 
a half per cent, of animal matter. 
The fang is covered by a thin 
layer of true bone (cement). 

At the center of the tooth is 
a cavity filled with a soft, red- 
dish-white, pulpy substance full 
of blood-vessels and nerves. This 
pulp is very sensitive, and tooth- 
ache is caused by its irritation. 

The Fitting of the Tooth 
into the Jaw is a most admirable 
contrivance. It is not set like a 
nail in wood, having the fang 
in contact with the bone ; but 
the socket is lined with a mem- 
brane which forms a soft cushion. 
While this is in a healthy state, it deadens the force 
of any shock, but, when inflamed, it becomes the 
seat of excruciating pain. 

The Decay of the Teeth* is commonly caused 
(1) by portions of the food which become entangled 

* Unlike the other portions of the body, there is no provision made for 
any change in the pei'manent teeth. That part, however, which is thus 
during life most liable to change, after death resists it the longest. In 
d6ep-sea dredgings teeth are found when all traces of the frame to which 
they belonged have disappeared. Yet hai*d aixd incoi'ruptible as they seem, 
their permanence is only relative. Exposed to injury and disease, they 
break or decay. Even if they escape accident, they yet wear at the civwni, 
are absorbed at the faiig, and, in time, drop out, thus affoitling another 
of the many signs of the limitations Providence has fixed to the endui'ance 
of our bodies and the length of our lives. 



\^^ 



Vertical section of a Molar 
Toothy moderately magnified. 

a, enamel of the crotvn, the 
lines of which indicate the 
arrangement of its columns ; 

b, dentine ; c, cement : d, 
prdp cavity. 



60 THE SKIN. [59,60. 

between them, and, on account of the heat and 
moisture, quickly decompose ; and (2) by the saHva, 
as it evaporates, leaving on the teeth a sediinent, 
which we call tartar. This collects organic matter 
that rapidly changes, and also affords a soil in which 
a sort of fungus speedily springs up. From both 
these causes, the breath becomes offensive, and the 
teeth are injured. 

Preservation of the Teeth. — Children should early 
be taught to brush their teeth at least every morn- 
ing with tepid water, and twice a week with white 
castile soap and powdered orris-root, or with some 
dentifrice recommended by a responsible dentist. 
They should also be instructed to remove the par- 
ticles of food from between the teeth, after each 
meal, by means of a quill or wooden tooth-pick. 

The enamel once injured is never restored, and the 
whole interior of the tooth is exposed to decay. We 
should not, therefore, crack hard nu.ts, bite thread, 
or use metal tooth-picks, gritty tooth-powders, or any 
acid which ''sets the teeth on edge," L e., that acts 
upon the enamel. It is well also to have the teeth 
examined yearly by a dentist, that any small orifice 
may be filled, and further decay prevented. 



V. THE GLANDS OF THE SKIN. 

I. The Oil Glands are clusters of tiny sacs which 
secrete an oil that flows along the duct to the root 
of the hair, and thence oozes ou.t on the cuticle (Fig. 



60,61.] THE PERSPIRATORY G-LANDS. 61 

24).* This is nature's efficient hair- dressing, and 
also keeps the skin soft and flexible. These glands 
are not usually found where there is no hair, as on 
the palm of the hand, and hence at those points 
only can water readily soak through the skin into 
the body. They are of considerable size on the face, 
especially about the nose. When obstructed, their 
contents become hard and dark-colored, and are vul- 
garly called " worms." f 

II. The Perspiratory Glands are fine tubes about 
3-^o of 9.n inch in diameter, and a quarter of an inch 
in length, which run through the cutis, and then 
coil up in little balls (Fig. 24). They are found in 
all parts of the body, and in almost incredible num- 
bers. In the palm of the hand, there are about two 
thousand eight hundred in a single square inch. 
On the back of the neck and trunk, where they are 
fewest, there are yet four hundred to the square 
inch. The total number on the body of an adult is 
estimated at about two and a half million. If they 
were laid end to end, they would extend nearly ten 
miles.t The mouths of these glands — "pores," as we 
commonly call them — may be seen with a pocket 

* This secretion is said to vary in different persons, and on that account 
the dog is enabled to trace his master by the scent. 

t Though they are not alive, yet, tinder the microscope, they are some- 
times found to contain a curious parasite, called the pimple-mite, which is 
supposed to consume the superabundant secretion. 

X The current statement, that they would extend twenty-eight miles, 
is undoubtedly an exaggeration. Krause estimates the total number at 
2, 381, '-348, and the length of each coil, when \inravoled, at rV of an inch, 
which would make the total length much less than even the statement in 
the text. Seguin states that the proportion of impurities thivwn off by the 
skin and the h;ngs, is eleven to seven. 



62 THE SKIN. [61,62. 

lens along the fine ridges which cover the palm of 
the hand. 

The Perspiration. — From these openings, there 
constantly passes a vapor, forming what we call the 
insensible perspiration. Exercise or heat causes it 
to flow more freely, when it condenses on the sur- 
face in drops. The perspiration consists of about 
ninety-nine parts water, and one part solid matter. 
The amount varies greatly, but on the average is, 
for an adult, not far from two pounds per day. Any 
suppression of this constant drainage will lead to 
disagreeable and even dangerous results. If it be 
entirely and permanently checked, death will in- 
evitably ensue.* 

The Absorbing Power of the Skin. — We have 
already described two uses of the skin : ( 1 ) Its pro- 
tective, (2) its exhaling, and now we come to (3) its 
absorbing power. This is not so noticeable as the 
others, and yet it can be illustrated. Persons fre- 
quently poison their hands with the common wood- 
ivy. Contagious diseases are taken by touching a 
patient, or even his clothing, especially if there be a 
crack in the cuticle. f Painters absorb so much lead 

* Once, on an occasion of great solemnity at Rome, a child was, it is 
said, completely covered with, gold-leaf, closely applied to the skin, so as 
to represent, according to the idea of that age, the golden glory of an angel 
or seraph. In a few honrs, after contributing to this pageant, the child 
died; the cause being suffocation, from stopping the exhalation of the 
skin ; although, in the ignorance of the common people of those days, the 
death was attributed to the anger of the Deity, and looked upon as a cir- 
cumstance of evil omen. 

t If one is called upon to handle a dead body, it is well, especially if 
the person has died of a contagious disease, to rub the hand with lard or 
olive-oil. Poisonous matter has been fatally absorbed through the breaking 



62,63.] HYGIENE. 63 

through the pores of their hands that they are 
attacked with cohc* Snuff and lard are frequently 
rubbed on the chest of a child suffering with the 
croup, to produce vomiting. It is said that seamen 
in want of water drench their clothing in salt spray, 
when the skin will absorb enough moisture to quench 
thirst (see Lymphatic System). 

By carefully conducted experiments, it has been 
found that the skin acts in the same way as the 
lungs (see Respiration) in absorbing oxygen from 
the air, and giving off carbonic acid to a small 
but appreciable amount. Indeed, the skin has not 
inaptly been styled the third lung. Hence, the im- 
portance of absolute cleanliness and a frequent ab- 
lution of the entire body. 



VI. HYGIENE. 

Hints about Washing and Bathing. — The moment 
of rising from bed is the proper time for the full 
wash or bath with which one should commence the 
day. The body is then warm, and can endure mod- 
erately cold water better than at any other time ; 

of the cuticle by a luxiig-nail, or a simple scratch. There is a story that 
Buonaparte, when a lieiitenant of artillery, in the heat of battle, seized 
the rammer and worked the giin of an artillery-man who had fallen. 
From the wood which the soldier had XTsed, Buonaparte absorbed a poison 
that gave him a skin-disease, by which he was annoyed the remainder of 
his life. 

* Cosmetics, hair-dyes, etc., are exceeclinijly ii\Jurio\is, not only because 
they tend to fill the pores of the skin, but because they often contain poi- 
sonous matters that may be absorbed into the system, especially if thoy 
are in a solution. 



64 THE SKIK. 



[63. 



it is relaxed, and needs bracing ; and the nerves, 
deadened by the night's repose, require a gentle 
stimulus. If the system be strong enough to resist 
the shock, cold water is the most invigorating ; if 
not, a tepid bath will answer.* 

Before dressing, the whole body should be thor- 
oughly rubbed with a coarse towel or flesh-brush. 
At first, the friction may be unpleasant, but this 
sensitiveness will soon be overcome, and the keenest 
pleasure be felt in the lively glow which follows. 
A bath should not be taken just before nor imme- 
diately after a meal, as it will interfere with the 
digestion of the food. Soap should be em^ployed 
occasionally, but its frequent use tends to make the 
skin dry and hard. 

Reaction. — After taking a cold bath, there should 
be a prompt reaction. When the surface is chilled 
by cold water, the blood sets to the heart and other 
vital organs, exciting them to more vigorous action. 



* Many persons liave not the conveniences for a bath. To them, the 
following plan, which the author has daily employed for years, is com- 
mended. The necessities are : a basin ftdl of soft water, a mild soap, a 
large sponge or a piece of flannel, and two towels — one soft, the other 
rough. The temperatiire of the water should vary with the season of the 
year — cold in summer and tepid in winter. Rub quickly the entire body 
with the wet sponge or flannel. (If more agreeable, wash and wipe only 
a part at a time, protecting the rest in cold weather with portions of 
clothing.) Dry the skin gently with a soft towel, and when quite dry, 
with the rough towel or flesh-brush rub the body briskly four or five 
minutes till the sMn is all aglow. The chest and abdomen need the 
principal rubbing. The roughness of the towel should be accommodated 
to the condition of the skin. Enough friction, however, must be given to 
produce at least a gentle warmth, indicative of the reaction necessary to 
prevent subsequent chill or languor. An invalid will find it exceedingly 
beneficial if a stout, vigorous person produce the reaction by rubbing with 
the hands. 



63,64.] SEA-BATHING. 65 

and then, being thrown back to the surface, it red- 
dens, warms, and stimulates the skin to an un- 
wonted degree. This is cahed the reaction, and in 
it lies the invigorating influence of the cold bath. 
When, on the contrary, the skin is heated by a hot 
bath, the blood is drawn to the surface, less blood 
goes to the heart, the circulation decreases, and lan- 
guor ensues. A dash of cold water is both neces- 
sary and refreshing at the close of a hot bath.* 

If, after a cold bath, there be felt no glow of 
warmth, but only a chilliness and depression, we are 
thereby warned that either proper means were not 
taken to bring on this reaction, or that the circula- 
tion is not vigorous enough to make such a bath 
beneficial. The general effect of a cool bath is ex- 
hilarating, and that of a warm one depressing.! 
Hence the latter should not ordinarily be taken 
oftener than once a week, while the former may be 
enjoyed daily. (See p. 289.) 

Sea-bathing is exceedingly stimulating, on account 
of the action of the salt and the exciting surroimd- 

* The Russians are very fond of vapor-baths, taken in the following 
manner, A large room is heated by stoves. Red-hot stones being brought 
in, water is thrown upon them, filling the room with steam. The bathers 
sit on benches until they pei'spire profusely, when they are rubbed with 
soap-suds and dashed with cold water. Sometimes, while in this state of 
excessive perspiration, they run out-of-doors and leap into snow-banks. 

t The sudden plunge into a cold bath is good for the sti'ong and healthy, 
but too severe for the delicate. One should always wet first the face, neck, 
and chest. It is extremely injurious to stand in a bath with only the feet 
and the lower limbs covered by the water, for the blood is thus sent fi*oi\i 
the extremities to the heart and internal organs, and they become so 
burdened that reactioii may be out of their power. A brisk walk, or a 
thorough rubbing of the skin, before a cold bath or swim, adds gveatl:*- to 
its value and pleasui'e. 



Q6 THE SKIN. [64,65. 

ings. Twenty minutes is the utmost limit for bath- 
ing or swimming in salt or fresh water. A chilly 
sensation should be the signal for instant removal. 
It is better to leave while the glow and buoyancy 
which follow the first plunge are still felt. G-entle 
exercise after a bath is beneficial. 

Clothing in winter, to keep us warm, should repel 
the external cold and retain the heat of the body. 
In summer, to keep us cool, it should not absorb the 
rays of the sun, and should permit the passage of 
the heat of the body. At all seasons, it should be 
porous, to give ready escape to the perspiration, and 
a free admission of air to the skin. We can readily 
apply these essential conditions to the different 
kinds of clothing. 

Linen is soft to the touch, and is a good con- 
ductor of heat. Hence it is pleasant for summer 
wear, but, being apt to chill the surface too rapidly, 
it should not be worn next the skin. 

Cotton is a poorer conductor of heat and absorber 
of moisture, and is therefore warmer than linen. It 
is sufficiently cool for summer wear, and affords 
better protection against sudden changes. 

Woolen absorbs moisture slowly, and contains 
much air in its pores. It is therefore a poor con- 
ductor of heat, and guards the wearer against the 
vicissitudes of our climate. 

The outer clothing may be adapted largely to 
ornament, and may be varied to suit our fancy 
and the requirements of society. The under-clothing 
should always be sufficient to keep us warm. Woolen 



65,66.] CLOTHING. 6 7 

should be worn next the skin at all times ; light gos- 
samer garments in the heat of summer, and warm, 
porous flannels in mid-winter. 

Light-colored clothing is not only cooler in sum-' 
mer, but warmer in winter. As the warmth of 
clothing depends greatly on the amount of air con- 
tained in its fibers, fine, loose, porous cloth with 
a plenty of nap is best for Avinter wear. Firm and 
heavy goods are not necessarily the warmest. Furs 
are the perfection of winter clothing, since they 
combine warmth with lightness. Two light woolen 
garments are warmer than one heavy one, as there 
is between them a layer of non-conducting air. 

All the body except the head should be equally 
protected by clothing. Whatever fashion may dic- 
tate, no part covered to-day can be uncovered to- 
night or to-morrow, except at the peril of health. It 
is a most barbarous and cruel custom to leave the 
limbs of little children unprotected, when adults 
would shiver at the very thought of exposure. 
Equally so is it for children to be thinly clad for the 
purpose of hardening them. To go shivering with 
cold is not the way to increase one's power of en- 
durance. The system is made more vigorous by 
exercise and food ; not by exposure. In winter, 
we should wear warm shoes with thick soles, and 
rubbers when it is damp. At night, and after exer- 
cise, we require extra clothing. (See }). 2 95.) 

Diseases, etc. — 1. Eri/sipeJas is an inflammation 
(see Inflammation) of tlie skin, and often begins in a 
spot not larger than a pin-head, which spreads w ith 



bo THESKIK. [66, 67. 

great rapidity. It is very commonly checked by the 
appUca>tion of a solution of iodine. The burning and 
contracting sensation may be relieved by cloths 
wrung out of hot Avater. 

2. Eczema (Salt Eheum, etc.) is of constitutional 
origin. It is characterized by an itching, burning, 
reddened eruption, in which a serous discharge ex- 
udes and dries into crusts or scales. The skin 
thickens in patches, and painful fissures are formed, 
which are irritated by exposure to air or water. Ec- 
zema denotes debility. It occurs in various forms, 
and, like erysipelas, should be treated by a physician. 

3. Corns are thickened cuticle, caused by pressure 
or friction. They most frequently occur on the feet ; 
but are produced on the shoemaker's knee by con- 
stant hammering, and on the soldier's shoulder by 
the rubbing of his musket. This hard portion irri- 
tates the sensitive cutis beneath, and so causes pain. 
A corn will soften in hot water, when it may be 
pared with a sharp knife. If the cause be removed, 
the corn will not return. 

4. In-growing Nails are caused by pressure, which 
forces the edge of the toe-nail into the flesh. They 
may be cured hj carefully cutting away the part 
Avhich has mal-grown, and then scraping the back of 
the nail till it is thin, making a small incision in the 
center, at the top. The two portions, uniting, will 
draw away the nail from the flesh at the edge. In- 
growing nails may be prevented by wearing broad- 
toed shoes. 

5. Warts are overgrown papillae (Fig. 24). They 



67-69.] PKACTICAL QUESTIOXS. 69 

may generally be removed by the application of 
glacial acetic acid, or a drop of nitric acid, repeated 
until the entire structure is softened. Care must be 
taken to keep the acid from touchmg the neighbor- 
ing skin. The capricious character of warts has 
given rise to the popular delusion concerning the 
influence of charms upon them. 

6. Chilblain is a local inflammation affecting 
generally the feet, the hands, or the lobes of the 
ear. Liability to it usually passes away with man- 
hood. It is not caused by "freezmg the feet," as 
many suppose, though attacks are brought on, or 
aggravated, by exposure to cold, followed by sudden 
warming. Chilblain is subject to daily congestion 
(see Congestion), manifested by itching, soreness, etc., 
commonly occurring at night. The best prcA^entive 
is a uniform temperature, and careful protection 
against the cold by warm clothing, especially for the 
feet. 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 

1. If a hair be plucked out, will another grow in its place? 

2. What causes the hair to " stand on end " when we are frightened ? 

3. Why is the skin roTighened by riding in the cold? 

4. Why is the back of a washer-woman's hand less water-soaked than 
the palm? 

5. What would be the length of the poi-spiratory tubes in a single 
square inch of the palm, if placed end to end ? 

6. What colored clothing is best adapted to all seasons? 

7. What is the effect of paint and powder on the skin ? 

8. Is water-proof clothing healthful for constant wear? 

9. Why are rubbers cold to the feet? 

10. Wliy does the heat seem oppressive when the air is nioist? 

11. Why is friction of the skin invigorating after a cold bath? 

12. "Why does the hair of domestic animals become roughoned in wititorr 



70 T H K S K I X . [69, 70, 

13. VHaj do fowls spread their feathers before they perch for the night ': 

14. How can an extensive burn produce congestion of the lungs ? 

15. Why do we perspire so profusely after drinking cold water? 

16. How can we best prevent skin-diseases, colds, and rheumatism > 

17. What causes the difference between the hard hand of a blacksmith 
and the soft hand of a woman? 

18. Why should a painter avoid getting paint on the palm of his hand? 

19. Why should we not use the soap or the soiled towel at a hotel? 

20. Which teeth cut like a pair of scissors? 

21. Which teeth cut like a chisel? 

22. Which should be clothed the warmer, a merchant or a farmer? 

23. Why should we not crack nuts with our teeth? 

24. Do the edges of the upper and the lower teeth meet? 

25. When fatigued, would you take a cold bath ? 

26. Why is the outer surface of a kid glove finer than the inner? 

27. VThy will a brunette endure the sun's rays better than a blonde ? 

28. Does patent leather form a healthful covering for the feet? 

29. Why are men more frequently bald than women? 

30. On what part of the head does baldness com m only occur? Why? 

31. What does the combination in our teeth of canines and grindei-s 
suggest as to the character of our food ? 

32. Is a staid, formal promenade suitable exercise? 

33. Is there any danger in changing the warm clothing of our daily 
wear for the thin one of a party? 

34. Should we retain our overcoat, shawl, or furs when we come into a 
warm room? 

35. "Which shoxild bathe the oftener, students or out-door laborers? 
" 36. Is abundant perspiration injurious? 

37. How often should the ablution of the entire body be performed? 

38. Why is cold water better than warm, for our daily ablution? 

39. Why should our clothing always fit loosely? 

40. Why should we take special pains to avoid clothing that is colored 
by poisonous dj^e-stuffs? (See p. 296.) 

41. What general principles should guide us as to the length and fre- 
quency of baths in salt or fresh water? 

42. What is "the beneficial effect of exercise upon the functions of the 
sMn? 

43. How can we best show our admiration and respect for the human 
body? 

44. Why is the scar of a severe wound upon a negro sometimes white? 



IV. 

Respiration 'and the Voice 



"The smooth soft ail* with pulse-hke waves 
Flows murmuring through its hidden caves, 
Whose strearas of brightening purple rush, 
Eired with a new and livelier blush ; 
While all their burden of decay 
The ebbing current steals away." 



ANALYSIS OF RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE. 



1. Organs of Voice. 



2. Organs of Bespiba- 

TION. 



3. How WE Breathe.. 



Modifications of 
Breath. 



1. The Larynx. 

2. Tlie Vocal Cords. 

3. Different Tones of Voice. 

4. Speech. 

■ 5. Formation of Vocal Sounds. 

1. The Trachea. 

2. The Bronchial Tubes. 

3. The Cells. 

4. The Lung-wrapping. 

5. The CiUa. 

1. Inspiration. 

2. Expiration. 

1. Sighing. 

2. Coughing. 

3. Sneezing. 

4. Snoring. 

5. Laughing, and Crying. 

6. Hiccough. 

7. Yawning. 



5. Capacity or the Lungs. 



6. Hygiene 



1. The Need of Air. 

2. Action of Air in the Lungs. 

3. Tests of the Breath.' 

4. Analysis of Expired Air. 

5. Effect of Re-breathed Air. 
. The 



Concerning the Need 
of Ventilation. 



Sources of 
Lnpurity. 
b. The Sick-room. 
0. The Sitting-room. . 

d. The Bed-room. 

e. The Chnrch. 

f. The School-room. 

g. How we should 

Ventilate. 



7. The Wonders of Respiration. 



8. Diseases. 



1. Constriction of the Lungs. 

2. Bronchitis. 

3. Pleurisy. 

. 4. Pneumonia. 

-{ 5. Consumption. 

{ 6. Asphyxia. 

' 7. Diphtheria. 

I 8. Croup. 

*- 9. Stammering. 



RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE, 

The Organs of Respiration and the Voice are the 
larynx^ the trachea, and the lungs. 

Description of the Organs of the Voice. — 1. The 

Larynx. — In the neck, is a prominence sometimes 
called Adam's apple. It is the front of the larynx. 
This is a small triangular, cartilaginous box, placed 
just below the root of the tongue, and at the top of 
the windpipe. The opening into it from the throat 
is called the glottis; and the cover, the epiglottis 
{epi, upon ; glotta, the tongue). The latter is a spoon- 
shaped lid, which opens when we breathe, but, by a 
nice arrangement, shuts when we try to swalloAV, 
and so lets our food slip over it into the wsophagns 
(e-sof'-a-gus), the tube leading from the pharynx to 
the stomach (Fig. 2 7). 

If we laugh or talk when we swalloAV, our food is 
apt to "go the wrong way," /. c, little particles pass 
into the larynx, and the tickling sensation which 
they produce forces us to cough in order to expel 
the intruders. 

2. The Vocal Cords.— On each side of the gioilis 
are the so-called ivcal cords. They iwc not really 
cords, but merely elastic membran^^s lu-ojiH't ing from 



74 



EESPIRATION AND THE VOICE 



[74, 75. 



the sides of the box across the opening.* When not 
in use, they spread apart and leave a V-shaped orifice 
(Fig. 28), through which the air passes to and from 
the lungs. If the cords are tightened, the edges 



Fig. 2': 




Passage tx> the (Esophagus and Windpipe, c, the tongue; d, the soft palate. 
in g, the uvula; h, the epiglottis; i, the glottis; I, the oesophagus; f, the 
pharynx. 

approach sometimes within j^ of an inch of each 
other, and, being thrown into vibration, cause cor- 
responding vibrations in the current of air. Thus 
sound is produced in the same manner as by the 



* The cartilages and vocal cords may be readily seen in the larynx of 
an ox or sheep. If the flesh be cut off, the cartilages will dry, and will 
keep for years. 



75,76.] DIFFERENT TONES OF THE VOICE. 



75 



Fio. 28. 




vibrations of the tongues of an accordion, or the 
strings of a viohn, only in this case the strings are 
scarcely an inch long. 

Different Tones of the Voice. 
— The higher tones of the voice 
are produced when the cords are 
short, tight, and closely in con- 
tact ; the lower, by the opposite 
conditions. Loudness is regulated 
by the quantity of air and force 
of expulsion. A falsetto voice is 
thought to be the result of a 
peculiarity in the pharynx (Fig. 
2 7) at the back part of the nose; 
it is more probably produced by some muscular 
maneuver not yet fully understood. When boys 
are about fourteen years of age, the larynx enlarges, 
and the cords grow proportionately longer and 
coarser ; hence, the voice becomes deeper, or, as we 
say, "changes." The peculiar harshness of the voice 
at this time seems to be due to a congestion of the 
mucous membrane of the cords. The change may 
occur very suddenly, the voice breaking in a single 
night. 

Speech is voice modulated by the lips, tongue,* 



e, e, the vocal cords; d, the 
epiglottis. 



* The tongue is styled the " unruly member/' and held reponsihle for 
all the tattling of the world ; but when the tongue is removed, the atijaceut 
organs in some way largely supply the deliciency, so that speech is still 
possible. Huxley describes the conversation of a man who had two ami 
one half inches of his tongue preserved in spirits, and yet could couvei"se 
intelligibly. Only the two letters t and d were beyond his power; tl\o 
articulation of these involves the emploj^nent of the tip of the tongue; 
hence, "tin" he converted into "fin." and "dog" into "thog." 



76 



RESPIEATION AND THE VOICE 



[76. 



palate, and teeth.* Speech and voice are commonly 
associated, but speech may exist without the voice ; 



Fig. 29. 




The Ijungs^ showing the Larynx. A, t?ie ivindpipe; B, the bronchial tvbes. 

for Tvhen we whisper we articulate the words, 
although there is no vocalization, /. e., no action of 
the larynx.t ^ (See p. 297.) 



* An artificial larynx may be made by nsing elastic bands to represent 
the vocal cords, and by placing above tbem chambers whicli by their reso- 
nance will produce the same effect as the cavities lying above the larynx. 
An artificial speaking-machine was constructed by Kempelen, which could 
pronounce such sentences as, "I love you with all my heart," in different 
languages, by simply touching the proper keys. 

t We can observe this by placing the hand on the throat, and noticing 
the absence of vibrations when we whisper, and their presence when we 



76,77.] FORMATION OF VOCAL SOUNDS. 77 

Formation of Vocal Sounds.— The method of 
modulating voice into speech may be seen by pro- 
ducing the pure vowel sounds a, e, etc., from one 
expiration, the mouth being kept open while the 
form of the aperture is changed for each vowel by 
the tongue and the lips. H is only an explosion, or 
forcible throwing of a vowel sound from the mouth.* 

The consonants, or short sounds, may also be 
made without interrupting the current of air, by 
various modifications of the vocal organs. In sound- 
ing singly any one of the letters, we can detect its 
peculiar requirements. Thus rn and n can be made 
only by blocking the air in the mouth and sending 
it through the nose ; I lets the air escape at the 
sides of the tongue ; r needs a vibratory movement 
of the tongue ; h and p stop the breath at the lips ; 
k and g (hard), at the back of the palate. Consonants 
like 6 and d are abrupt, or, like I and s, continuous. 
Those made by the lips are termed labials ; those by 
pressing the tongue against the teeth, dentals; those 
by the tongue, Unguals. 

The child gains speech slowly, first learning to 
pronounce the vowel a, the consonants /;, m, and p, 
and then their unions — ha, ma, pa. 

talk. The difference between vocalization and non-vocalization is seen in a 
sigh, and a groan, the latter being the former vocalized. Whistling is a 
pure mouth-sound, and does not depend on the voice. Laughter is vocal, 
being the aspirated vowels, a, e, or o, convulsively repeated. 

* When, in sounding a vowel, the sound coincides with a sudden change 
in the position of the vocal cords from one of divergence to one of approxi- 
mation, the vowel is pronounced with, the spinfii.^ a^yjer. VTlxen the vocal 
cords are bi-ought together before the blast of air begins, the vowel ia pi\>- 
nounced with the spiri/i/s /( niii.— Yostku. 



EESPlRATION" AHD THil VOICE. 



[77, 78. 



Fig. 30. 



Description of the Organs of Respiration.— Be- 
neath the larynx is the windpipe, or trachea (see 
Fig. 2 9), so called because of its roughness. It is 

strengthened by C - shaped 
cartilages with the openings 
behind, where they are at- 
tached to the oesophagus. 
At the lower end, the trachea 
divides into two branches, 
called the right and left 
Itroncln. These subdivide in 
the small bronchial tubes, 
which ramify through the 
lungs like the branches of a 
tree, the tiny twigs of which 
at last end in clusters of 

Bronchial Tithes^ with dusters of cells. 

cells so small that there are 
six hundred million in all. This cellular structure 
renders the lungs exceedingly soft, elastic, and 
sponge-like.* 

The stiff, cartilaginous rings, so noticeable in the 
rough surface of the trachea and the bronchi, dis- 
appear as we reach the smaller bronchial tubes, so 
that while the former are kept constantly open for 
the free admission of air, the latter are provided 
with elastic fibers by which they may be almost 
closed. 




* The lungs of slaughtered animals are vulgarly called "lights," prob- 
ably on account of their lightness. They are similar in structure to those 
of man. They will float on water, and if a small piece be forcibly squeezed 
between the fingers (notice the creaking sound it gives), it will retain suflfi.- 
cient air to make it buoyant. 



78, 79.] 



THE caLIA 



79 



Wrappings of the Lungs. — The lungs are invested 
with a double covering — the pleura — one layer being 
attached to the lungs and the other to the walls of 
the chest. It secretes 
a fluid which lubri- 
cates it, so that the 
layers glide upon each 
other with perfect 
ease.* The lungs are 
lined with mucous 
membrane, exceed- 
ingly delicate and sen- 
sitive to the presence 
of any thing except 
pure air. We have all 
noticed this when we 
have breathed any 
thing offensive. 

The Cilia. — Along 
the air passages are 
minute filaments 

icilict Fig. 32) which a, the heart ; B, the lu/ign drawn aside to show 

' the internal organs ; C, the diaphrag/n ; D, the 

are in constant mo- Uver; 'E^, the gall cyst ; F, the stomach; G, tJie 

smallintestines ; 'H-^ the transverse colon. 

tion, like a field of 

grain stirred hy a gentle breeze. They serve to fan 
the air in the lungs, and produce an outward current, 
which is useful in catching dust and fine particles 
swept inward with the breath. 




* These pleural sacs are distinct and closed ; hence, when the ribs are 
raised, a partial vacnnm being formed in the sacs, air rushes in, and dis- 
tends the pulmonary lobules. 



80 



RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE. 



[80. 



Fig. 32. 



How we Breathe. — Respiration consists of two 
acts — taking in the air, or inspiration, and expelling 
the air, or expiration. 

1. Inspiration. — When we draw 
in a full breath, we straighten the 
spine and throw the head and 
shoulders back, so as to give the 
greatest advantage to the mus- 
cles.* At the same time, the dia- 
phragm f descends and presses 
the walls of the abdomen out- 
ward. Both these processes in- 
crease the size of the chest. 
Thereupon, the elastic lungs ex- 
pand to occupy the extra space, while the air, rush- 
ing in through the windpipe, pours along the bron- 
chial tubes and crowds into every cell.| 




B, a section of the mucovs 
membrane^ showing the cilia 
rising from the peculiar ejn- 
thelial cells on the ovtside of 
the mucous membrane lining 
the tubes ; A, a single cell 
more highly magnified. 



* If we examine the bony cage of the thorax or chest in Fig. 8, we 
shall see that the position of the ribs may alter its capacity in two ways. 

1. As they run obliquely downward from the spine, if the sternum or 
breast-bone be lifted in front, the diameter of the chest will be increased. 

2. The ribs are fastened by elastic cartilages, which stretch as the muscles 
that lift the ribs contract, and so increase the breadth of the chest. 

+ The diaphragm is the muscular partition between the chest and the 
abdomen. It is always convex toward the former, and concave toward the 
latter (Fig. 31). Long muscular fibers extend from its center toward the 
ribs in front and the spine at the back. When these contract, they depress 
and fl.atten the diaphragm ; when they relax, it becomes convex again. In 
the f orm.er case, the bowels are pressed downward and the abdomen pushed 
outward ; in the latter, the bowels spring upward, and the abdomen is 
drawn inward. 

X It is said that in drawing a full breath, the muscles exert a force equal 
to raising a weight of seven hundred and fifty pounds. When we are about 
to make a great effort, as in striking a heavy blow, we naturally take a deep 
inspiration, and shut the glottis. The confined air makes the chest tense 
and firm, and enables us to exert a greater force. As we let slip the blow, 
the glottis opens and the air escapes, often with a curious aspirated sound. 



80,81.] MODIFICATIONS OF THE BREATH. 81 

2. Expiration. — When we forcibly expel the air 
from our lungs, the operation is reversed. We bend 
forward, draw in the walls of the abdomen, and 
press the diaphragm upward, while the ribs are 
pulled downward, — all together diminishing the size 
of the chest, and forcing the air outward. 

Ordinary, quiet breathing is performed mainly by 
the diaphragm, — one breath to every four beats of 
the heart, or eighteen per minute. (See p. 2 99.) 

Modifications of the Breath. — Sighing is merely a 
prolonged inspiration followed by an audible expira- 
tion. Coughing is a violent expiration in which the 
air is driven through the mouth. Sneezing differs 
from coughing, the air being forced through the 
nose. Snoring is produced by the passage of the 
breath through the pharynx when the tongue and 
soft palate are in certain positions.* Laughing and 
crying are very much alike. The expression of the 
face is necessary to distinguish between them. The 
sounds are produced by short, rapid contractions of 
the diaphragm. Hiccough is confined to inspiration. 

as is noticeable in workmen. To make a good shot with a rifle, we should 
take aim with a full chest and tight breath, since then the arms will have 
a steadier support. 

* The soft palate must have fallen back in such a manner as nearly 
or quite to close the entrance to the nasal cavity from the throat, and the 
tongue must also be thrown back so far as to leave only a narrow opening 
between it and the soft palate. The noise is produced by the air being 
forced either inward or outward through this opening. A snore results 
also when, with a closed mouth, the air is forced between the soft palate 
and the back wall of the phaTynx into the nasal caAaty. "With deep 
breathing, perhaps accompanied by a variation in the position of the soft 
palate, a rattling noise may be heard in addition to the snoring, which is 
due to a vibration of the soft palate.— F. A. Fernald, in "How wo Sneeze, 
Laiigh, Stammer, and ^igh.''''— Popular Science Monthly, Feb., 1884. 



82 RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE. [81,82. 

It is caused by a contraction of the diaphragm and 
a constriction of the glottis ; the current of air just 
entering, as it strikes the closed glottis, gives rise 
to the well-known sound. Yawning^ or gaping, is 
like sighing.* It is distinguished by a wide opening 
of the mouth and a deep, profound inspiration. Both 
processes furnish additional air, and therefore prob- 
ably meet a demand of the system for more oxygen. 
Frequently, however, they are like laughing, sobbing, 
etc., merely a sort of contagion, which runs through 
an audience, and seems almost irresistible. 

The Capacity of the Lungs. — If we take a deep 
inspiration, and then forcibly exhale all the air we 
can expel from the lungs, this amount, which is 
termed the breathing capacity, will bear a very close 
correspondence to our stature. For a man of medium 
height (five feet eight inches) it will be about two 
hundred and thirty cubic inches, f or a gallon, and 
for each inch of height between five and six feet 
there will be an increase of eight cubic inches. In 
addition, it is found that the lungs contain about 
one hundred cubic inches which can not be expelled, 
thus making their entire contents about three hun- 

* The usefulness of a yawn lies in bringing up the arrears, as it 
were, of respiration, when it has fallen behindhand, either through 
fatigue or close attention to other occupation. The stretching of the 
jaws and limbs may also serve to equalize the nervous influence, certain 
muscles having become uneasy on account of being stretched or contracted 
for a long time. 

+ Of this amount, one hundred cubic inches can be forced in only by 
an extra effort, and is available for emergencies, or for purposes of train- 
ing, as in singing, climbing, etc. It is of great importance, since, if the 
capacity of the lungs only equaled our daily wants, the least obstruction 
would prove fatal. 



82, 83.] THENEEDOFAIR. 83 

dred and thirty cubic inches, or eleven pints. The 
extra amount always on hand in the lungs is of 
great value, since thereby the action of the air goes 
on continuously, even during a violent expiration. 
In ordinary breathing, only about twenty or thirty 
cubic inches (less than a pint) of air pass in and out. 

The Need of Air. — The body needs food, clothing, 
sunshine, bathing, and drink ; but none of these 
wants is so pressing as that for air. The other de- 
mands may be met by occasional supplies, but air 
must be furnished every moment or we die. Now 
the vital element of the atmosphere is oxygen gas.* 
This is a stimulating, life-giving principle. No tonic 
will so invigorate as a few full, deep breaths of cold, 
pure air. Every organ will glow with the energy of 
the fiery oxygen. 

Action of the Air in the Lungs. — In the delicate 
cells of the lungs, the air gives up its oxygen to the 
blood, and receives in turn carbonic-acid gas and 
water, foul with waste matter which the blood has 
picked up in its circulation through the body. The 
blood, thus purified and laden with the inspiring- 
oxygen, goes bounding through the system, while 
the air we exhale carries off the impurities. In this 
process, the blood changes from purple t(^ red. If 
we examine our breath, Ave can readily see Avhat it 
has removed from the blood. 

* See " Steele's Popular Cliemistiy," p. 30. The atmosphere consists 
of one fifth oxygen and four fifths nitrogen. The fovinor is the active 
element; and the latter, the passive. Oxygen alone woxild bo too stimu- 
lating, and must he restrained by the neutral nitrogen. Separately, either 
element of the air would kill us. 



84 RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE. [83,84. 

Tests of the Breath. — 1. Breathe into a jar, and 
on lowering into it a lighted candle, the flame will 
be instantly extinguished ; thus indicating the pres- 
ence of carbonic-acid gas. 2. Breathe upon a mirror, 
and a film of moisture will show the vapor.* 3. If 
breath be confined in a bottle, the animal matter 
will decompose and give off an offensive odor. 

Analysis of the Expired Air shows that it has lost 
about twenty-five per cent, of its oxygen, and gained 
an equal amount of carbonic-acid gas, besides moist- 
ure, and organic impurities. Our breath, then, is air 
robbed of its vitality, and containing in its place a 
gas as fatal to life f as it is to a flame, and effete 
matter which is disagreeable to the smell, injurious 
to the health, and which may contain the germs of 
serious disease. 

The Evil Effect of Re-breathing the air can not 
be overestimated. We take back into our bodies that 
which has just been rejected. The blood thereupon 
leaves the lungs, bearing, not the iuA^igorating oxy- 
gen, but refuse matter to obstruct the whole system. 
We soon feel the effect. The muscles become in- 



* There is a close relation between th.e functions of the skin, the lungs, 
and the kidneys— the scavengers of the body. They all carry off water 
from the blood, and when the function of one of the three is, in this re- 
spect, interfered with, the others are called upon to perform its functions. 
When the function of perspiration is deranged. The lungs and kidneys are 
required to perform heavier duty, and this may lead to disease (see p. 62). 

+ Carbonic-acid gas can not be breathed when undiluted, as the glottis 
closes and forbids its passage into the lungs. Air containing only three or 
four per cent, acts as a narcotic poison QIillek), and a much smaller pro- 
portion will have an injurious effect. The great danger, however, lies in 
the organic particles constantly exhaled from the lungs and the skin, 
which, it is believed, are often direct and active poisons, 



84, 85.J COI^"CERNING VENTILATION. 85 

active. The blood stagnates. The heart acts slowly. 
The food is undigested. The brain is clogged. The 
head aches. Instances of fatal results are only too 
frequent.* The constant breathing of even the 
slightly-impure air of our houses can not but tend 
to undermine the health. The blood is not purified, 
and is thus in a condition to receive the seeds of 
disease at any time. The system uninspired by the 
energizing oxygen is sensitive to cold. The pale 
cheek, the lusterless eye, the languid step, speak but 
too plainly of oxygen starvation. In such a soil, 
catarrh, scrofula, and kindred diseases run riot.f 

Concerning the Need of Ventilation. — The foul 
air which passes off from the lungs and through the 
pores of the skin does not fall to the floor, but 
diffuses itself through the surrounding atmosphere. 
A single breath will to a trifling but certain extent 
taint the air of a whole room. J A light will vitiate 

* During the English, war in India, in the last century, one hundred 
and forty-six prisoners were shut up in a room scarcely large enotigh to 
hold them. The air could enter only by two narrow windows. At the end 
of eight hours, but twenty-three persons remained alive, and these were in 
a most deplorable condition. This prison is well called " The Black Hole of 
Calcutta."— Percy relates that after the battle of Austerlitz, three hundred 
Russian prisoners were confined in a cavern, where two hundred and sixty 
of them perished in a few hours.— The stupid captain of the ship Londonderry, 
during a storm at sea, shut the hatches. There were only seven cubic feet 
of space left for each person, and in six hoiirs ninety of the passengers 
were dead. 

t One not very strong, or unable powerfully to resist conditions unfa- 
vorable to health, and with a predisposition to lung disease, will be sure, 
sooner or later, by partial lung-starvation and blood-poisoning, to develop 
pulmonary consumption. The lack of what is so abundant and so cheap— good, 
pure air— is unqvestionaMy the one great cause of this teniNe di^^ease. — Bl.\ok\«< 
Ten Laws of Health. 

t This grows out of a well-known philosophical priiu-iplo c-allod tho 
Diffusion of Q-ases, whereby two gasos tom] to mix in oxai-t jn'oixM'tious, no 



86 RESPIKATIOX AXD THE VOICE. [85.86. 

as much air as a dozen persons. Manj^ breaths and 
hghts therefore rapidly unfit the air for our use. 

The perfection of ventilation is reached T^^hen the 
air of a room is as' pure as that out-of-doors. To 
accomplish this result, it is necessary to aUow for 
each person six hundred cubic feet of space, while 
ventilation is still going on in the best manner 
known. 

In spite of these well-knovm facts, scarcely any 
pains are taken to suppl}^ fresh air, v^hile the doors 
and windows where the life-giving oxygen might 
creep in are hermetically stopped. 

How often is this true of the sick-room. Yet here 
the danger of bad air is intensified. The expired 
breath of the patient is peculiarly threatening to 
himself as well as to others. Nature is seeking to 
throw off the poison of the disease. The scavengers 
of the body are all at work. The breath and the 
insensible perspiration are loaded with impurities.* 
The odor is oftentimes exceedingly offensive. Sick 
and well alike need an abundance of fresh air. But, 
too often, it is the only want not supplied. 

Our sitting-rooms, heated by furnaces or red-hot 
stoves, generally have no means of ventilation, or, 



matter what may be the quantitj' of each.— Steele's Popular Chemistry, p. 86, 
and PopiJlar Physics, p. 52. 

* The floating dust in the air, revealed to us by the sunbeam shining 
thi'ough a crack in the blinds, shows the abundance of these impxiritles, 
and also the presence of germs which, lodging in the lungs, raay implant 
disease, unless thrown off by a ^^gorous constitution. " On uncovering a 
scarlet-fever patient, a cloud of fine dust is seen to rise from the body— 
contagiotis dust, that for days will retain its poisonous properties."— ToriiAMS, 
(See p. 300.) 



86,87.] CONCERNING VENTILATION. 87 

if provided, they are seldom used. A window is oc- 
casionally dropped to give a little relief, as if pure 
air were a rarity, and must be doled out to the suf- 
fering lungs in morsels, instead of full and constant 
draughts. The inmates are starved by scanty lung- 
food, and stupefied by foul air. The process goes on 
year by year. The weakened and poisoned body at 
last succumbs to disease, while we, in our blindness 
and ignorance, talk of the mysterious Providence 
which thus untimely cuts down the brightest intel- 
lects. The truth is, death is often simply the penalty 
for violating nature's laws. Bad air begets disease ; 
disease begets death. 

In our churches, the foul air left by the congre- 
gation on Sunday is shut up during the week, and 
heated for the Dext Lord's day, when the people 
assemble to re-breathe the polluted atmosphere. 
They are thus forced, with every breath they take, 
to violate the physical laws of Him whom they meet 
to worship, — laws written not three thousand years 
ago upon Mount Sinai on tables of stone, but to-day 
engraved in the constitution of their own living, 
breathing bodies. On brains benumbed and starving 
for oxygen, the purest truth and the hig'hest elo- 
quence fall with little force. 

We sleep in a small bedroom from which every 
breath of fresh air is excluded, because we believe 
night air to be unhealthy,* and so we breathe its 



* There is a singular prejudice against the night air. Yet, as Florence 
Nightingale aptly says, what other air can wo brcvithe at night* We thou 
have the choice between foul air within ami puiv air without. For, in 



88 EESPIEATIOX AND THE VOICE. [87,88. 

dozen hogsheads of air over and over again, and 
then wonder why we awaken in the morning so dull 
and unrefreshed ! Return to our room after inhaling 
the fresh, morning air, and the fetid odor we meet 
on opening the door, is convincing proof how we 
have poisoned our lungs during the night. 

Each room should be supplied with two thousand 
feet of fresh air per hour for every person it con- 
tains. Our ingenuity ought to find some way of 
doing this advantageously and pleasantly. A moietj^ 
of the care we devote to delicate articles of food, 
drink, and dress would abundantly meet this prime 
necessit}^ of our bodies. 

Open the windows a little at the top and the 
bottom. Put on plenty of clothing to keep warm by 
day and by night, and then let the inspiring oxygen 
come in as freely as G-od has given it. Pure air is 
the cheapest necessity and luxury of life. Let it not 
be the rarest ! 

School-room Ventilation. — Who, on going from 
the open air of a clear, bracing winter's day, into a 
crowded school-room, late in the session, has not 
noticed the disagreeable odor, and been for a mo- 
ment nauseated and half-stifled by the oppressive 
atmosphere ! It is not strange. See how many 
causes here combine to pollute the air. If the room 
is heated by a stove, quantities of carbonic-oxide 
and carbonic-acid gases, as well as other products 



large cities especially, the night air is far more wholesome than that of the 
day-time. To secure fresh air all night, we must open the windows of our 
bedroom. 



88.] SCHOOL-ROOM VENTILATION. 89 

of combustion, driven by downward drafts in the 
flue, escape through seams and cracks and the occa- 
sionally-opened door of the stove. In the case of a 
furnace, the same effect is too often experienced, 
and the odor of coal-gas is a common one, especially 
when the fire is replenished. The insensible perspira- 
tion is more active in children than in adults ; they, 
moreover, rush in with their clothing saturated with 
the perspiration induced by their sports ; so that, on 
the average, each pupil, during school-hours, loads 
the air with about half a pint of aqueous vapor. 
The children come, oftentimes, from homes that are 
close, ill-ventilated, and uncleanly ; and frequently 
from sick-rooms, bringing in their clothing the germs 
of disease. (See p. 304.) Some of the pupils may 
even bear traces of illness, or have unsound organs, 
and so their breath and exhalations be poisonous. 

In addition to all this, the air is filled with dust 
brought in and kept astir by many busy feet ; with 
ashes floating from the stove or furnace ; and espe- 
cially with chalk-dust. The modern method of teach- 
ing requires a large amount of blackboard work, and 
the air of the school-room is thus loaded with chalk 
particles. These cohect in the nasal passages, and 
the upper part of the larynx, and irritate the mem- 
brane, perhaps laying the foundation of catarrh. 

The usual school-room atmosphere bears in the 
pupils the natural fruit of frequent headaches, in- 
attention, weariness, and stupor ; but in the teacher 
its frightful influence is most apparent. His labor 
is severe, his worry of mind is constant, and, when 



90 RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE 



[89. 



he finishes his day's work, he is generally too tired 
to take proper physical exercise. He consequently 
labors on with impaired health, or is forced to aban- 
don his profession. 

Instead of six hundred feet of space being allowed 
for each pupil, as perfect ventilation demands — the 
lowest estimate being two hundred and fifty feet — 
often not over one hundred feet are afforded. In- 
stead of two thousand cubic feet of fresh air being 
supplied every hour for each person, and as much 
foul air removed, which, all physiologists assert, is 
needed for perfect health, perhaps no means of ven- 
tilation at all are provided, and none is secured 
except what an occasionally-opened door, or the be- 
nevolent cracks and chinks in the building furnish 
the suffering lungs.* 

How shall We Ventilate? — The usual method of 
ventilation depends upon the fact that hot air is 
lighter than cold air, and so the cold air tends, by 
the force of gravit}^, to fall and compel the warm 
air to rise. Thus, if we open the door of a heated 
room, and hold a lighted candle first at the top, and 
then at the bottom, we can see, by the defiection of 
the flame, that there is a current of air setting out- 



* Imagine fifty pupils put into a class-room thirty feet long, twenty-five 
feet wide, and ten feet high. This would generally he considered a very 
liberal provision. Such a room contains seven thousand five hundred cubic 
feet of air. But it furnishes only one hundred and fifty feet of space for 
each pupil. Allowing ten cubic feet of air per pupil each minute, in fifteen 
minutes after assembling, the entire atmosphere of the room is tainted, 
and unfit to be re-breathed. The demand of health is that at lea t one 
thousand five hundred cubic feet of pure air should be admitted into this 
room every miniite, and as much be removed. 



89,90.] HOW SHALL WE VENTILATE? 91 

ward at the top, and another setting inward at the 
bottom of the opening. A handkerchief held loosely, 
or the smoke of a smoldering match, in front of a 
iire-place will show a current of air passing up the 
chimney ; this is caused by the difference of temper- 
ature between the air in the room and the outside 
atmosphere. Upon this difference of temperature, all 
ordinary ventilation is hased.^ A proper treatment 
of this subject and its practical applications, would 
require a book by itself. There is room here for 
only a few general statements and suggestions. 

1. Two openings are always necessary to produce 
a thorough change of air. (See "Popular Chemistry," 
p. 70.) Put a lighted candle in a bottle. The flame 
will soon be extinguished. The oxygen of the little 
air in the bottle is burned out, and carbonic-acid has 
taken its place. Now place over the mouth of the 
bottle a lamp-chimney, and insert in the chimney a 
strip of card-board, thus dividing the passage. On 
relighting the candle, it will burn freely. The smoke 
of a bit of smoldering paper will show that two 
opposite currents of air are established, one setting 
into the bottle, the other outward. 

2. In the winter, when our school-rooms, churches, 
public halls, etc., are heated artificiall}^, ventilation 
is comparatively easy if properly arranged. f The 



* Public buildings are sometimes ventilated by mechanical means, /. f., 
immense fans which, are turned by machinery, and thus set the air in 
motion. Such methods are, however, expensive, and rarely adopted, except 
where power is also iised for other purposes. 

t For the escape of bad air. Dr. Bell sugcrests that an efllcient foul-air 
shaft may be fitted to the commonest of stoves by simply inclosiui; tht> 



92 EESPIRATION and the voice. [90,91. 

required difference of temperature is kept up with 
little difficult}-. The fresh air admitted to the room 
should then be heated* either by a furnace, or by 
passing over a stove, or through a coil of steam- 
pipes. This cold air should always be taken directly 
from out-of-doors, and not from a cellar, or from 
under a piazza, where contamination is possible. 

3. In order to remove the impure air, there should 
be ventilators provided at or near the floor, opening 
into air-shafts, or pipes leading upward through the 
roof, Avith proper orifices at the top. These venti- 
lating-pipes should be heated artificially so as to 
produce a draught. They may form one of the flues 
of a chimney in which there is a constant fire ; or be 
carried upward in a large flue through the center of 
which runs the smoke-pipe of the furnace or stove ; f 



stove-pipe in a jacket — that is, in a pipe two or three inches greater in 
diameter. This should be braced round the stove-pipe and left open at the 
end next the stove. At its entrance into the chimney, a perforated collar 
should separate it from the stove-pipe 

* Ventilation is change of air, and, unless scientifically arranged, and 
especially unless the incoming volume of air be warmed in cold weather, 
such change of atmosphere means cold currents, with their attendant train 
of catarrhs, bronchitis, neuralgia, rheumatism, and all the evils that spring 
from these diseases. The raw, damp, frosty air of our ever-changing winter 
temperature ought not to have uncontrolled and constant ingress to our 
dwellings. Air out-of-doors is suited to out-of-door habits. It is healthy 
and bracing when the body is coated and wrapped, and prepared to meet 
it, and when exercise can be taken to keep up the circulation ; but to live 
under cover is to live artificially, and such essential conditions must be 
observed as suit an abnormal- state. All the evils attaching to ventila- 
tion, as it is generally effected, spring from the neglect of this consist- 
ency. — Westminster Review. 

+ This plan has been adopted in the newer school-buildings of Elmira, 
N. Y. The older buildings were provided with ventilating-pipes, not heated 
artificially, and hence of no service. These pipes are rendered effective, 
however, by conducting them into a small room in the garret, heated by a 



91,92.] HOW SHALL WE VENTILATE? 93 

or the ventilating-pipe be itself conveyed through 
the center of the larger chmmey-flue. If the register 
for hot air be on the floor at one side of the room, 
two or more ventilators may be placed near the floor 
on the opposite side. The warm air will thus make 
the complete circuit of the room, and thoroughly 
warm it before passing out. 

If the ventilating-shaft be not heated artificially, 
the ventilator must be placed at the top of the roomi 
in order that the hot air may escape through it, thus 
producing an upward draught. But the objection to 
this method is that it allows the warmer air to 
escape, while economy requires that the cooler air 
at the bottom of the room should be removed and 
the warm air be made to descend, thus securing 
uniformity of temperature. 

4. In the summer, ventilation may be commonly 
provided for by opening windows at the top and the 
bottom, on the sheltered side of the building, so as to 
avoid draughts of air injurious to the occupants. On 
a dull, still, hot day, when there is little difference 
of temperature between the inner and the outer air, 
ventilation can be ■ secured only by having a lire pro- 
vided in the ventilating-shaft ; this, by exhausting 
the air from the room, will cause a fresh current to 

coal-stove. From this room, a large exit-pii^e leads to the roof, whei'e it 
terminates in an Emerson's ventilator. So strong a dranglit is thus estab- 
lished that throughout the building air is taken from the floors, and 
consequently the cooler portion of the rooms, at a velocity of thi-ee to 
five feet per second or one hundred and eighty to three hundivd cubic 
feet per minute for each square foot of flue-opening. In perpendicular 
flues, heated throxighout with a smoke-flue from the furnace, ten feet per 
second is attained. 



94 RESPIEATION" AKD THE VOICE. [92,93. 

pour in through the open windows. At recess, all 
the children should, if the weather permit, be sent 
out-of-doors, to allow their clothing to be exposed to 
the purifying influence of the open air ; meantime, 
the windows should be thrown wide open, that the 
room may be thoroughly ventilated during their ab- 
sence. In bad weather, rapid marching or calisthenic 
exercises will furnish exercise, and also permit the 
airing of the room. 

5. The school and the church are the centers for 
spreading contagious diseases. The former offers 
especially dangerous facilities for scattering disease- 
germs. Great pains, therefore, should be taken to 
exclude pupils attacked by or recovering from diph- 
theria, scarlet-fever, whooping-cough, etc., and even 
those who live in houses where such sickness exists. 

6. In our houses,* open fire-places are efficient 
ventilators, and they should never be closed for any 
cause. Fresh air admitted by a hot-air register and 
impure air passed out by a chimney, foriTi a simple 
and thorough system. Our sleeping-apartments de- 

^niand especial care. As soon as the occupants leave 
the room, the bed-clothes should be removed, and 

* The air of our homes is often contaminated by decaying vegetables 
and other filth in the cellar; by bad air drawn up from the soil into the 
cellar, by the powerful dra^ights that our fixes create ; by defective gas and 
waste pipes that let the foul air from cess-p:)ol or sewer spread through the 
house ; and by piles of refuse, or puddles of slops emptied at the back-door. 
Too often, also, the water in our wells, or in the streams that supply our 
towns and cities, receives the drainage from out-houses and barn-yards, and 
so introduces into our systems, in the liquid— and thus easily-assimilated— 
form, the most dangerous poisons. The question of sanitary precautions is 
one that presses upon every observant mind, and demands constant and 
thoughtful attention. (See p. 305.) 



93.] WONDERS OF RESPIRATION. 95 

laid on the backs of chairs to air ; the bed be shaken 
up ; and the windows thrown open. In the summer, 
the windows may be closed before the sun is high ; 
the house is then left filled with the cool morning 
air. In damp and cold weather, a fire should be 
lighted in sleeping-apartments, particularly if used 
by children * or delicate persons, to dry the bed-cloth- 
ing, and also to prevent a chill on the part of the 
occupants. It is not necessary to go shivering to bed 
in order to harden one's constitution. 

Wonders of Respiration. — The perfection of the 
organs of respiration challenges our admiration. So 
delicate are they that the least pressure would cause 
exquisite pain, yet tons of air surge to and fro through 
their intricate passages, and bathe their innermost 
cells. We j^early perform at least seven million acts 
of breathing, inhaling one hundred thousand cubic 
feet of air, and purifying over three thousand five 
hundred tons of blood. This gigantic process goes 
on constantly, never wearies or worries us, and we 
wonder at it onl}^ when science reveals to us its 
magnitude. In addition, by a wise economy, the 
process of respiration is made to subserve a second 



* In winter, children should always be given a moderately warm, well- 
ventilated bedroom, with light, fleecy bed-coverings. Says a recent English 
writer : " The loving care which prescribes for children a cold bedroom 
and a hot, sweltering bed is of the nature that kills. Buried in blankets, 
their delicate skins become overheated and I'elaxed, while they are irritated 
by perspiration ; at the same time, the most delicate tissues of all, in the 
lungs, are dealing with air abnormally frigid. The poor little \'ictims of 
combined ignorance and kindness thus toss and drejim, feverish antl 
troubled, under a mass of bed-(^lothes, while the well-nioanini:- mothoi-. 
soothed by a bodroom-flre, slumbers i>eacefuUy tlwough this working out 
of the sad pi-ocess of the 'sur\ival ol' llie lit test.'" 



96 



EESPIEATION AND THE VOICE, 



[93, 94. 



use no less important, and the air we exhale, passing 
through the organs of voice, is transformed into 
prayers of faith, songs of hope, and words of social 
cheer. 

Fi&, 33, 




A, the natural position of the intei^al organs. B, wfien defomied by tight 
lacing. Marshall says that the liver and the stomach have., in this way, been forced 
downward almost as low as the pelvis. 

Diseases, etc. — 1. Constriction of the Lungs is 
produced by tight clothing. The ribs are thus forced 
inward, the size of the chest is diminished, and the 
amount of inhaled air decreased. Stiff clothing, and 
especially a garment that will not admit of a full 
breath without inconvenience, will prevent that free 
movement of the ribs so essential to health. Any 



94.9^.3 DISEASES, ETC. 9? 

infraction of the laws of respiration, even though it 
be fashionable, will result in diminished vitality and 
vigor, and will be fearfully punished by sickness and 
weakness through the whole life. 

2. Bronchitis (bron-ki'-tis) is an inflammation (see 
Inflammation) of the mucous membrane of the bron- 
chial tubes. It is accompanied by an increased se- 
cretion of mucus, and consequent coughing. 

8. Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura. It 
is sometimes caused by an injury to the ribs, and 
results in a secretion of water within the membrane. 

4. Pneumonia {pneuma^ breath) is an inflamma- 
tion of the lungs, affecting chiefly the air-cells. 

5. Consumption is a disease which destroys the 
substance of the lungs. Like other lung difficulties, 
it is caused largely by a want of pure air, a liberal 
supply of which is the best treatment that can be 
prescribed for it.* 

6. Asphyxia (as-fixM-a). — When a person is 
drowned, strangled, or choked in any way, what is 
called asphyxia occurs. The face turns black ; the 
veins become turgid ; insensibility and often con- 
vulsions ensue. If relief is not secured within a few 
minutes, death will be inevitable.f (See p. 2 64.) 



* If I were seriously ill of consumption, T woiild live out-doors day 
and night, except in rainy weather or mid-winter; then I would sleep in 
an unplastered log-house. Physic has no nutriment, gaspings for air can 
not cure you, monkey capers in a gymnasium can not cure you, stiniiilants 
can not euro you. Wliat consumptives want is pure air, not physic, jilonty 
of meat and plenty of bread.— Dr. Marshall Hall. 

t The lack of oxygen, and the presence of carbonic-acid gas, arc tl\o 
combined causes. Oxygen starvation ai\d carbonic-acid poisoning, each 
fatal 'in itself, work together to destroy life. 



yo RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE. [95, 96. 

7. Diphtheria {diphthera, a membrane) is char- 
acterized by fever, debility, and a peculiar sore 
throat, in which exuding fibrinous matter forms a 
grayish white membrane, which afterward decom- 
poses with a fetid odor. Its sudden and insidious 
approach, contagious character, and frequent fatality, 
render it an exceedingly dreaded disease. A diph- 
theritic patient should be quarantined, and every 
thing connected with the sick-room thoroughly dis- 
infected. 

8. Croup ^ which often attacks young children, is 
an inflammation of the inucous membrane of the 
larynx and trachea. It is commonly preceded by a 
cold. The child sneezes, coughs, and is hoarse, but 
the attack frequently comes on suddenly, and usu- 
ally in the night. It is accompanied by a peculiar 
" brass}"," ringing cough, which, once heard, can 
never be mistaken. It may prove fatal within a few 
hours. (See p. 2 60.) 

9. Stammering depends, not on defects of the 
muscles, but on a want of due control of the mind. 
When a stammerer is not too conscious of his lack, 
and tries to form his words slowly, he speaks plainly, 
and may sing well, for then his words must follow 
one another in rhythmic time. Many persons who 
stammer in common conversation can talk with 
fluency when making a speech. The stammerer 
should seek to discover the cause of his difficulty, 
and to overcome it by vocal and respiratory exercise, 
especially by speaking only after a full inspiration, 
and during a long, slow expiration. 



96,97.] PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 

1. What is the philosophy of "the change of voice'' in a boy? 

2. Why can we see our breath on a frosty morning? 

3. When a law of health and a law of fashion conflict, which should 
we obey? 

4. If we use a "bunk" bed, should we pack away the clothes when 
we first rise in the morning? 

5. Why should a clothes-press be well ventilated? 

6. Should the weight of our clothing hang from the waist, or the 
shoulder ? 

7. Describe the effects of living in an overheated room. 

8. What habits impair the power of the lungs? 

9. For full, easy breathing in singing, should we use the diaphragm 
and lower ribs, or the upper ribs alone? 

10. Why is it better to breathe through the nose than the mouth? 

11. Why should not a speaker talk while returning home on a cold 
night after a lecture? 

13. What part of the body needs the loosest clothing? 

13. What part needs the warmest? 

14. Why is a "spare bed" generally unhealthful? 

15. Is there any good in sighing? 

16. Should a hat be thoroughly ventilated? How? 

17. Why do the lungs of people who live in cities become of a gray 
color ? 

18. How would you convince a person that a bedroom should be 
aired ? * 

19. What persons are most liable to catarrhs, consumption, etc.? 

20. If a person is plunged under water, will it enter his lungs? 

21. Are bed-curtains healthful? 

22. Why do some people take "short breaths" after a meal? 

23. What is the special value of pxiblic parks? 

24. Can a person become used to bad air, so that it will not injure him? 

25. Why do we gape when we are sleepy? 

26. Is a fashionable waist a model of art in sculpture or painting? 

27. Should a fire-place be closed ?t 



* " If the condensed breath collected on the cool window-panes of a room whorc 
a number of persons have been assembled, be burned, a smell as of singed hair will show 
the presence of organic matter; and if the condensed breath be allowed to remain on the 
windows for a few days, it will he found, on examination by the microscope, that it is 
alive with animalcula\" 

t Thousands of lives would be saved if all fire-places were kept open. If you aiv 
so fortunate as to have a lire-place in your room, paint it when not in use. put a bouquet 
of fresh flowers in it every morning, if you please, or do any thing to make il attractive. 



iOU KESPIKATIOX AXD THE VOICE. [97,98. 

28. "WTiy does embarrassment or fright cause a stammerer to stutter 
still more painfully? 

29. In the oi'gans of voice, what parts have somewhat the same effect 
as the case of a violin and the sounding-board of a piano? 

30. "Why should we be careful not to "take the breath of a sick per- 
son " ? 

31. What special care should be taken with regard to keeping a cellar 
clean ? 

32. How is the air strained as it passes into the lungs? 

33. Can one really ''draw the air into his lungs"? 

34. How often do we breathe? 

35. Describe some approved method of ventilation. 

36. What is at once the floor of the chest and the roof of the abdomen ? 

37. "WTiat would you do in ^ case of apparent death by drowning, or by 
coal-gas? (See p. 264.) 

38. What would you do in a case of croup, while the doctor was 
coming? (See p. 260.) 

39. How would you treat a severe burn ? (See p. 257.) 

40. Describe the various ways in which the water in a well is liable to 
become unwholesome. 



but never close it ; better use the fire-boards for kindling-wood. It would be scarcely 
less absurd to take a piece of elegantly-tinted court-plaster and stop up the nose, 
trusting to the accidental opening and shutting of the mouth for fresh air, because you 
thought it spoDed the looks of your face to have two such great, ugly holes in it, than 
to stop your fire-place with elegantly-tinted paper, or a Japanese fan, because it looks 
better.— Leeds. 



V. 

The Circulation 



■ No rest this throbbing slave may ask, 
Porever qtiivering o'er his task, 
While far and wide a crimson jet 
Leaps forth to fill the woven net, 
Which in unnumber'd crossing tides 
The flood of burning life divides. 
Then, kindling each decaying part. 
Creeps back to find the throbbing heart." 

Holmes. 



ANALYSIS OF THE CIRCULATION. 





' 1 


. The Blood - 


'■ 1. Its Composition. 
2. Its Uses. 






3. Transfusion. 
. 4. Coagulation. 








1. The 
Heart. " 


1. Description. 

2. Movements. 

3. Auricles and Ventricles. 

. f a. Need of. 
1 6. Tricuspid and Bi- 

4. The valves, j ,. Thrifrfngthening 

of the Valves. 
L cl. Semi-lunar Valves. 




2 


Organs of the Cib- 

CULATION. 


A Jiifp^ \ 2- Th^Trwiil System. 
Arteries. | 3^ The Pulse. 


"A 
O 
1— 1 

< 






3. The j 1. General Descriniion. 
Veins. 1 2. Fa^?;e5. 






4. The ( 1. Descnption. 
CapiUa- ^ 2. Z7s6. 
ries. ( 3. Under the Microscope. 


O ' 


3. 


The Circulation.. - 


1. The Lesser. 

2. The Greater. 

3. The Velocity of the Blood. 


P5 
1— 1 


4. 


The Heat of the 
Body. 


1. Distribution. 

2. Regulation. 


o 


5. 


Life by Death. 




H 


6. 


Change of our Bodi 


ES. 




7. 


The Three Vital Oi 


iGANS. 





8. Wonders of the Heart. 



9. The Lymphatic J 2, 

Circulation. } 3. 

U, 






Description. 
The Glands. 
The Lymph. 
The Oflace of the Lymphatics. 



10. Diseases 



1. Congestion. 

2. Inflammation. 

3. Bleeding. 

4. Scrofula. 

5. A Cold. 

6. Catarrh. 



11. 



Alcoholic Drinks 
AND Narcotics. 



II; 



Effect of Alcohol upon the Circtdation. 
Effect of Alcohol upon the Heart. 
Effect of Alcohol upon the Membrane. 
Effect of Alcohol upon the Blood. 
Effect of Alcohol upon the Lungs. 



THE CIRCULATION. 

The Organs of the Circulation are the hearty the 
arteries^ the veins, and the capillaries. 

The Blood is the hquid by means of which the 
circulation is effected. It permeates every part of 
the body, except the cuticle, nails, hair, etc. The 



EiG. 35, 




f; 



^r^ 







A, corpuscles of human bloody highly magnified ; B, 
animal (a iwH-mmnmal). 



rpuMes in the bloud of an 



average quantity in each person is about eighteen 
pounds.* It is composed of a thin, colorless liquid, 
the plasma, filled with red disks or cells,t so smaU 



* It is diflicult to estimate the exact aiiiount, and therefoi'e authorities 
disagree, Poster places it at aboiit one thirteenth, of the body-weiglit. 

t There is also one white globular cell to every three or four hundred 
red ones. The blood is no more red than the water of a stream would bo 
if you were to flU it with little red fishes. Suppose the fishes to be very, 
very small — as small as a grain of sand— and closely cnnvded together 
through the wliole depth of the stream ; the water wo\ild look quite i*ed, 
would it not? And this is the way in which blood looks red— only obst>r\c 



106 THE CIRCULATION. [104. 

that about three thousand five hundred placed side 
by side would measure only an inch, and it would 
take sixteen thousand laid flatwise upon one another 
to make a column of that height. Under the micro- 
scope, they are found to be rounded at the edge and 
concave on both sides.* They have a tendency to 
collect in piles like rolls of coin. The size and shape 
vary in the blood of different animals, f Disks are 
continually forming in the blood, and as constantly 
dying — twenty millions at every breath. — Draper. 
The plasma also contains fibrin,]; albumen — which 



one thing; a grain of sand is a mountain in comparison witli tlie little 
red fishes in the blood. If I were to tell you they measured about 35V0 of 
an inch in diameter, you would not be much wiser ; so I prefer saying (by 
way of giving you a more perfect idea of their minuteness) that there 
would be about a million in such a drop of blood as would hang on the 
point of a needle. I say so on the authority of a scientiflc^microscopist— 
M. Bouillet. Not that he has ever counted thgm, as you may suppose, any 
more than I have done; but this is as near an approach as can be made 
by calculation to the size of 35V0 part of an inch in diameter. — Jean IIace. 

* By pricking the end of the finger with a needle, we can obtain a 
drop for examination. Place it on the slide, cover with a glass, and put 
it at once under the microscope. The red disks will be seen to group 
themselves in rows, while the white disks will seem to draw apart, and 
to be constantly changing their form. After a gradual evaporation, the 
crystals (Fig. 36) may be seen. In animals, they have various, though 
distinctive forms. 

+ Authorities differ greatly in their estimate of the size of the disks 
(corpuscles) in human blood. The fact is that the size varies in different 
persons, probably also in the same individual. Many of the best micro- 
scopists therefore hesitate to state whether a particular specimen of blood 
belonged to a human being or to an animal. Others claim that they can 
distinguish with accuracy. Evidently, the question is one of great un- 
certainty. The following statement of the size of the cells in different 
animals is taken from GruHiver's tables : Cat, tio* of an inch in diameter ; 
whale, 31^50 ; mouse, 35x1 ; liog, ^zso ; camel, stVs; sheep, g-gSs ; horse, 46V0; 
Virginia deer, 5 oW ; dog-faced baboon, ^Vr ; brown baboon, 34^93 ; red 
monkey, ^^^^ ; black monkey, 35^77. 

t It is usual to say that fibrin is contained in the blood. It probably 
does not exist as su.ch, but there are present in the blood certain sub- 



104-106.] 



USES OF THE BLOOD, 



107 



Fia. 36. 



is found nearly pure in the white of an egg — and 
various mineral substances, as iron,* lime, magnesia, 
phosphorus, potash, etc. 

Uses of the Blood. — The blood has been called 
" liquid flesh " ; but it is more than that, since it 
contains the materials 
for making every or- 
gan. The plasma is 
rich in mineral matter 
for the bones, and in 
albumen for the mus- 
cles. The red disks 
are the air-cells of the 
blood. They contain 
the oxygen so essential 
to every operation of 
life. Wherever there 
is work to be done or 
repairs to be mad^, there the oxygen is needed. It 
stimulates to action, and tears down all that is worn 
out. In this process, it combines with and actually 
burns out parts of the muscles and other tissues, as 
wood is burned in the stove. f The blood, now foul 




Blood Crystals. 



stances known as paraglobidin and fihrinogeii, which, by the action of a third 
substance, fibrin-ferment , under certain circumstances, form fibrin and so 
cause coagulation. The exact nature of the process by which fibrin is 
produced by these three factoi-s is not understood.— See Foster's Tewt Book 
of Physiology, p. 22. 

* Enough iron has boon fouiui in tl\r :islu>s of a huriuHl body to form 
a mourning ring. 

t Por the sake of simplicity, porluips to conceal our own iguoranoo. wo 
call this process "burning." The simile of a fire is good so far as it goes. 
But as to the real natiire of the change which the physiologist briefly 
terms "oxidation,'" we know nothing, 'i'his miuh onlv can bo asserted 



108 THE CIRCULATION. [105,106. 

with the burned matter, the refuse of this fire, is 
caught up by the circulation, and whirled back to 
the lungs, where it is purified, and again sent bound- 
ing on its way. 

There are, then, two different kinds of the blood in 
the body : the red or arterial, and the dark or venous. 

Transfusion. — As the blood is really the "vital 
fiuid," it would seem that feeble persons might be 
restored to vigor by infusing healthy blood into their 
veins. This hypothesis, so valuable in its possible 

positively. A stream of oxygen is carried by the blood to tbe muscles (in 
fact to every tissue in tbe body), while, from the muscles the blood carries 
away a stream of carbonic acid and water. But what takes place in the 
muscles, when and what chemical change occurs, no one can tell. We see 
the first and the last stage. We know that contraction of the muscles 
somehow comes about, oxygen disappears, carbonic acid appears, energy is 
released, and force is exhibited as motion, heat, and electricity. But the 
intermediate step is hidden. 

There are certain theories advanced, however, that are worth consid- 
ering. Some physiologists hold that the muscle has the power of taking 
up the oxygen from the hcemagloUn (a body that comprises ninety per cent, 
of the red corpuscles when dried, and is the oxygen-carrier of the blood), 
and flx:ing it, as well as the raw material (food) furnished by the blood, 
thus forming a true contractile substance. The breaking-down or decompo- 
sition of this contractile substance in the muscle, sets free its potential 
energy. The process is gentle so long as the muscle is at rest, but becomes 
excessive and violent when contraction occurs. (See " Foster's Physiology," 
p. 118.) It is also believed by some that the chemical change in the muscle 
partakes of a f ermentive character ; that, under the influence of the proper 
ferments, the substances break up into other and simpler products, thus 
setting free heat and force ; and that this chemical change is followed by 
a secondary oxidation by the oxygen in the arterial blood, thereby forming 
carbonic acid and water, as in all putrefactive processes. But these and 
other views are not as yet fully understood ; while they utterly fail to teU 
us how a collection of simple cells, filled merely with a semi-fluid mass of 
matter, can contract and set free muscular power. The commonness of 
this act hides from us its wonderful nature. But here, hidden in the cell— 
Nature's tiny laboratory— lies the mysteiy of life. Before its closed door 
we ponder in vain, confessing the unskillfulness of our labor, and fearing 
all the while lest the Secj^et of the Cell will always elude our search. 



106,10-/.] COAGULATION. 109 

results in prolonging human life, has been carefully- 
tested. Animals which have ceased to breathe have 
thus had their vitality recalled. In the seventeenth 
century the theory became a subject of special in- 
vestigation. A maniac was restored to reason by the 
blood of a calf, and the most extravagant hopes 
were entertained. But many fatal accidents occur- 
ring, experiments upon human beings were forbidden 
by law, and transfusion soon fell into disuse. It has, 
however, been successfully practiced in several cases 
within the last few years, and is a method still in 
repute for saving life. 

Coagulation. — When blood is exposed to the air, 
it coagulates. This is caused by the solidifying of 
the fibrin, which, entangling the disks, forms the 
"clot." The remaining clear, yellow liquid is the 
serum. The value of this peculiar property of the 
blood can hardly be overestimated. The coagula- 
tion soon checks all ordinary cases of bleeding.* 
When a wound is made, and bleeding commences, 
the fibrin forms a temporary plug, as it were, which 
is absorbed when the healing process is finished. 
Thus we see how a Divine foresight has provided 
not only for the ordinary wants of the body, but 
also for the accidents to which it is liable, f 

* In the case of the lower animals, which have no means of stopping: 
hemorrhages as we have, the coagulation is generally still more rapid. In 
some species of birds it takes place almost instantaneoiisly. 

t The fibrin is not an essential ingredient of the blood. All the func- 
tions of life are regularly performed in people whoso blood lacks tibrin ; 
and, in cases of transfusion, where blood deprived of its fibrin was iTsed. 
the vivifying influence seemed to be the same. Its office, therefore, must 
mainly be to stanch any hemorrhage which may occur.— Fijxt. 



110 



THE CIRCULATION. 



[107-109, 



The Heart is the engine which propels the blood. 
It is a hollow, pear-shaped muscle, about the size of 
Fig. 37. the fist. It hangs, 

point downward, 
just to the left of 
the center of the 
chest. (See Fig. 
31.) It is inclosed 
in a loose sac of 
serous membrane,* 
called the pericar- 
dium {peri, about ; 
and kardia, the 
heart). This se- 
cretes a lubricating 
fluid, and is smooth 
as satin. 

The Movements 
of the Heart con- 
sist of an alternate 
contraction and ex- 
pansion. The former is called the sys'-to-le, and the 
latter the di-as'-to-le. During the diastole, the blood 




The Heart. A, the right ventricle; B, the left ventricle 
C, the right auricle ; D, the left auricle. 



* The mucous membrane lines the open cavities of tlie body; tbe 
serous, the closed. The pericardium is a sac composed of two layers — a 
fibrous membrane on the outside, and a serous one on the inside. The 
latter covers the external surface of the heart, and is reflected back upon 
itself in order to form, like all the membranes of this nature, a sac without 
an opening. The heart is thus covered by the pericardial sac, but not con- 
tained inside its cavity. A correct idea may be formed of the disposition 
of the pericardium around the heart by recalling a very common and very 
convenient, though now discarded head-dress, the cotton night-cap. The 
pericardium incloses the heart exactly as this cap covered the heads of 
our forefathers.— TFo7?c?ers of the Human Body. 



io9, lio.j 



AiJiildLES AND VENTRICLES. 



Ill 



I^iG. 38. 



flows into the heart, to be expelled by the systole. 
The alternation of these movements constitutes the 
beating of the heart 
which we hear so 
distinctly between the 
fifth and sixth ribs.* 

The Auricles and //j 
Ventricles. — The 
heart is divided into 
four chambers. In 
an adult, each, holds 
about a wine-glassful. 
The upper ones, from 
appendages on the 
outside resembling 
the ears of a dog, are 
called auricles {aures, 
ears) ; the lower ones 
are termed ventricles. 
The auricle and ven- 
tricle on each side communicate with each other, but 
the right and left halves of the heart are entirely 
distinct, and perform different offices. The left side 
propels the red blood ; and the right, the darlv. 




Chambers of the Heart. A, right ventricle ; 
B, left mntricle ; C, right auricle ; D, left ati- 
ricle ; E, tricvspid valve ; P, bicuspid valve ; 
G, semi-lvnar valves ; H, valve of the aorta ; 
I, inferior vena cava ; K, supenor vena cava ; 
L, L, pulmonary vein^s. 



* Two sounds are heard if we put our ear over the heart,— the fii-st and 
longer as the blood is leaving the organ, the second as it falls into the 
pockets of the two arteries, and the valves then striking together cause it. 
The first sound is mainly the noise made by the muscular tissue. During 
the first, the two ventricles contract; during the. second, the t\\'o auricles 
do so. The hand may feel the heart striking the ribs as it contracts.— a 
feeling called the impulse, or, if quicker and stronger than usual, palpita- 
tion. This is not always a sign of disease, but in hypochondriacs is often 
an effect of the mind oh the nerves of the heart.— MAroruKU. 



112 THE CIRCULATIOX. [110,111. 

The auricles are merely reservoirs to receiye the 
blood (the left auricle, as it filters in bright and 
pure from the lungs ; the right, as it returns dark 
and foul from the tour of the boc^), and to furnish 
it to the ventricles as the}' need. Their work being 
so light, their T^^alls are comparatively thin and weak. 
On the other hand, the ventricles force the blood 
(the left, to all parts of the body ; the right, to the 
lungs), and are, therefore, made very strong. As the 
left ventricle drives the blood so much farther than 
the right, it is correspondingly thicker and stronger. 

Need of Valves in the Heart. — As the auricles do 
not need to contract with much force simply to 
empty their contents into the ventricles below them, 
there is no demand for any special contrivance to 
prevent the blood from setting back the wrong way. 
Indeed, it would naturally run down into the ven- 
tricle, which is at that moment open to receive it. 
But, when the strong ventricles contract, especially 
the left one, which must drive the blood to the ex- 
tremities, some arrangement is necessary to prevent 
it from returning into the auricle. Besides, when 
they expand, the ''suction power" would tend to 
draw back again from the arteries all the blood just 
forced out. This difficulty is obviated by means of 
little doors, or valves, which will not let it go the 
wrong way.* 

* The heart of an ox or a sheep may be used to show the chambers 
and valves. The aorta should be cut as far as possible from the heart, and 
then by pumping in water the perfection of these valves will be finely 
exhibited. Cutting the heart across near the middle will show the greater 
thickness of the left ventricle. 



ill, il2.j TKICUSPID AXi) JBiCUSPlD VALVES. 118 



The Tricuspid and Bicuspid Valves. — At the 
opening into the right ventricle, is a valve consisting 
of three folds or flaps of membrane, whence it is 
called the tri-cuspid valve {tri, three ; and cuspides, 
points), and in the left ventricle, one containing two 
flaps, and named the hi-cuspid valve. These hang 
so loosely as to oppose no resistance to the passage 

EiG. 39. 




Diagram shoiving the peculiar Fibrous Structure of the Heart and th^ Shape of 
the Valves. A, triscujnd valve ; B, bicuspid valve ; C, semi-hinar valves of the aorta ; 
D, semi-lunar valves of the pulmonary artery. 

of the blood into the ventricles ; but, if any attempts 
to go the other way, it gets between the flaps and 
the walls of the heart, and, driving them outward, 
closes the orifice. 

These Flaps are Strengthened like sails by slen- 
der cords, which prevent their being pressed back 
through the opening. If the cords were attached 
directly to the walls of the heart, they would be 
loosened in the systole, and so become useless when 



114 THE CIECULATIOK. [112,113. 

TTLOst needed. They are, therefore, fastened to httle 
muscnlar pillars projecting from the sides of the 
ventricle ; when that contracts, the pillars contract 
also, and thus the cords are held tight. 

The Semi-lunar Valves. — In the passages outward 
from the A^entricles, are valves, called from their 
IDCculiar half-moon shape semi-lunar valves (serai, 
half ; Luna, Moon). Each consists of three little 
pocket-shaped folds of membrane, with their open- 
ings in the direction which the blood is to take. 
When it sets back, they fill, and, swelling out, close 
the passage (Fig. 40). 

The Arteries* are the tube-like canals which 
convey the blood from the heart. They carry the 
red blood (see note, p. 119). They are composed of 
an elastic tissue, which yields at ever}^ throb of the 
heart, and then slowly contracting again, keeps up 
the motion of the blood until the next s^^stole. The 
elasticity of the arteries acts like the air-chamber of 
a fire-engine, which converts the intermittent jerks 
of the brakes or pump into the steady stream of the 
hose-nozzle. 

The arteries sometimes communicate by means of 
branches or by meshes of loops, so that if the blood 
be blocked in one, it can pass round through another, 
and so get by the obstacle, f When an artery pene- 



* Aer, air; and tereo, I contain — so named becaiise after death, they 
contain air only, and hence the ancients supposed them to be air-tubes 
leading through the body. 

+ This occurs especially about the joints, where it serves to maintain 
the circulation during the bending of a limb, or when the main artery is 
obstructed by disease or injury, or has been tied by the surgeon. In the 



113,114.1 THEPULSE. 115 

trates a muscle, it is often protected by a sheath or 
by fibrous rings, which prevent its being pulled out 
of place or compressed by the play of the muscles. 

The arteries are generally located as far as possible 
beneath the surface, out of harm's way, and hence 
are found closely hugging the bones or creeping 
through safe passages provided for them. They are 
generally nearly straight, and take the shortest routes 
to the parts which they are to supply with blood. 

The Arterial System starts from the left ventricle 
by a single trunk — the aoi^ta — which, after giving off 
branches to the head, sweeps back of the chest with 
a bold curve — the arch of the- aorta (c, Fig. 34) — and 
thence runs downward (/), dividing and subdividing, 
like a tree, into numberless branches, which, at last, 
penetrate every nook and corner of the body. 

The Pulse. — At the wrist {k, radial artery) and on 
the temple (temporal artery) we can feel the expan- 
sion of the artery by each little wave of blood set in 
motion by the contraction of the heart. In health, 
there are about seventy-two* pulsations per minute. 
They increase with excitement or inflammation, 
weaken with loss of vigor, and are modified by 

last case, the small adjacent arteries gradually enlarge, and tovTW what is 
called a collateral circulation. 

* This number varies much with age, sex, and individuals. Napoleon's 
pulse is said to have been only forty, while it is not infrequent to tind a 
healthy pulse at one hundred or over. In general, the pulse is quicker in 
children and in old people than in the middle-aged ; in short persons than 
in tall ; in women than in men. Shame makes the heart send more blood 
to the blushing cheek, and fear almost stops it. The "svill can not chock 
the heart. There is said, however, to have been a notable exception to this 
in the case of one Colonel Townsend, of Dublin, who, after having succeeded 
several times in stopping the pulsation, at last lost his life in the act. 



116 THE CIRCULATIONS*. [114,116. 

nearly every disease. The physician, therefore, finds 
the pulse a good index of the state of the system 
and the character of the disorder. (See p. 314.) 

The Veins are the tube-like canals which convey 
the blood to the heart."^ They carry the dark or 
venous blood (note, p. 119). As they do not receive 
the direct impulse of the heart, their walls are made 
much thinner and less elastic than those of the 
arteries. At first small, they increase in size and 
diminish in number as they gradually pour into one 
another, like tin}^ rills collecting to form two rivers, 
the vena cava ascending and the vena cava descend- 
ing (/, '???, Fig. 34), which empty into the right -auricle. 

Some of the veins creep along under the skin, 
where they can be seen, as in the back of the hand ; 
while others accompany the arteries, some of which 
have two or more of these companions. 

Valves similar in construction to those already 
described (the semi-lunar valves of the heart, page 
114) are placed at convenient intervals, in order to 
guide the blood in its course, and prevent its setting 
backward.! We can easily examine the working of 



* There is one exception to the general eonrse of the veins. The portat 
vein carries the blood from the digestive organs to the liver, where it is 
acted upon, thence poured into the ascending vena cava, and goes back to 
the heart. 

t Too much standing, or tight elastics, often cause the veins in the leg 
to swell, so that the valves can not work ; the veins then become varicose, or 
permanently enlarged, and, if they burst, the bleeding may be profuse and 
even dangerous. Raising the leg and pressing the finger on the bleeding 
spot will stay it. Walking does not encourage this disease, for the active 
muscles force on the venous blood. Clerks who are subject to varicose 
veins should have seats behind the counters where they may rest when not 
actually employed. A deep breath helps the flow in the veins, and a 




114,115.] THE CAPILLAEIES. 117 

these valves. On baring the arm, blue veins may be 
seen running along the arm toward the hand. Their 
diameter is tolerably even, and they gradually de- 
crease in size. If now the ^^^ ^^ 
finger be pressed on the up- 
per part of one of these veins, 
and then passed downward 
so as to drive its blood back- 
ward, swellings like little 
knots win make their appear- ^"'"^^ '^' ''" ^^'^• 
ance. Each of these marks the location of a valve, 
which is closed by the blood we push before our 
finger. Remove the pressure, and the valve will 
swing open, the blood set forward, and the vein col- 
lapse to its former size. 

The Capillaries {capillus, a hair) form a fine net- 
work of tubes, connecting the ends of the arteries 
with the veins. They blend, however, with the ex- 
tremities of these two systems, so that it is not easy 
to tell just where an artery ends and a A^ein begins. 
So closely are they placed, that we can not prick the 
flesh with a needle without injuring, perhaps, hun- 
dreds of them. The air-cells of the blood deposit 
there their oxygen, and receive carbonic acid, whik^ 
in the delicate capillaries of the lung;s* they give 

wound may suck in air with fatal effect. A maimed horse is most merci- 
fully killed by blowing a bubble of air into the veins of his neck. As the 
deep-sea pressure would burst valves, the whale has none ; hence a small 
wound by the harpoon causes hin\ to bleed to death.— Mapothek. 

* The capillary tubes are there so fine that tl\o disks of the blood have 
to go one by one, and are sadly scpieezed at that, llowover, their elasticity 
enables them to ivsunie their old shape as soon as they have escaped frvuu 
this labyrinth. 



11 



THE CIKCULATION. 



[115, 116. 



up their load of carbonic acid in exchange for 
oxygen. 

If, by means of a microscope, we examine the 
transparent web of a frog's foot, we can trace the 
route of the blood.* It is an experiment of wonder- 
ful interest. The crimson stream, propelled by the 

Fig. 41. 




B 



C 



Circulation of the Blood in the Web of a Frog's Foot, highly magnified. A, an 
artery ; B, capillaries croivded with disks, oiving to a mipture just above, where the 
disks are jammed into an adjacent mesh; C, a deeper vein; the black spots are pig- 
ment cells. 

heart, rushes through the arteries, until it reaches 
the intricate meshes of the capillaries. Here it breaks 
into a thousand tiny rills. We can see the disks wind- 
ing in single file through the devious passages, dart- 
ing hither and thither, now pausing, swaying to and 
fro with an uncertain motion, and anon dashing 
ahead, until, at last, gathered in the veins, the blood 
sets steadilv back on its return to the heart. 



* With small splints and twine, a frog's foot can be easily stretched. 
and tied so that the transparent web can be placed on the table of the 
microscope. 



116-118.] 



THE LESSEE CIRCULATION. 



119 



The Circulation* consists of two parts — the lesser^ 
and the greater. 

1 . The Lesser 
Circulation. — The 
dark blood from 
the veins collects 
in the right auricle, 
and, going through 
the tricuspid valve, 
empties into the 
right ventricle. 
Thence it is driven 
past the semi-lunar 
valves, through the 
pulmonary artery, 
to the lungs. 
After circulating 
through the fine 
capillaries of the 
air-cells contained 
in the lungs, it is 
returned, bright 
and red, through 
the four pulmonary veins,! to the left auricle. 




Diagram illustrating the Circulation of the Blooft. 
—Marshall. A, vena cava descending (sttpenor) ; 
Z, vena cava ascending (inferior) ; C, tight aiwicle : 
D, right ventricle ; B, pulmonany artery ; F P, li/ngs 
and pulmonary veins ; Gr, left an tide ; H, left ven- 
tricle ; I, K, aorta. 



* The circulation of the blood was discovered by Harvey in 1G1S1. For 
several years, he did not dare to publish his belief. When it became 
known, he was bitterly perseciited, and his practice as a physician irroatly 
decreased in consequence. He lived, however, to see his theory imivei-sally 
adopted, and his name honored. Harvey is said to have doclarod that no 
man over forty years of age accepted his views. 

t It is noticeable that the pulmonary set of veins circulates roii blood, 
and the piilmonary set of arteries circulates dark blood. Both aiv connected 
witji the lungs, 



120 THE CIECULATION. [118,119. 

2. The Greater Circulation. — From the left auricle, 
the blood is forced past the bicuspid valve to the 
left ventricle ; thence it is driven through the semi- 
lunar valves into the great aorta, the main trunk of 
the arterial system. Passing through the arteries, 
capillaries, and veins, it returns through the vense 
cavse, ascending and descending, gathers again in 
the right auricle, and so completes the "grand round" 
of the body. Both these circulations are going on 
constantly, as the two auricles contract, and the two 
ventricles expand simultaneously, and vice versa. 

The Velocity of the Blood varies so much in 
different parts of the body, and is influenced by so 
many circumstances, that it can not be calculated 
with any degree of accuracy. It has been estimated 
that a portion of the blood will make the tour of 
the body in about twenty-three seconds (Flint), and 
that the entire mass passes through the heart in 
from one to two minutes.* (See p. 31^.) 

Distribution and Regulation of the Heat of the 
Body. — 1. Distribution. — The natural temperature is 
not far from 98°.t This is maintained, as we have 

* The total amount of blood in an adult of average weight is about 
eighteen pounds. Dividing this by five ounces, the quantity discharged by 
the left ventricle at each systole, gives fifty-eight pulsations as the number 
necessary to transmit all the blood in the body. This, however, is an 
extremely unreliable basis of calculation, as the rapidity of the blood is 
itself so variable. Chauvreau has shown by experiments with his instru- 
ment that, corresponding to the first dilation of the vessels, the blood 
moves with immense rapidity ; following this, the current suddenly be- 
comes nearly arrested ; this is succeeded by a second acceleration in the 
current, not quite so rapid as the first ; and after this there is a gradual 
dechne in the rapidity to the time of the next pulsation. 

+ The average temperature is, however, easily departed from. Through 
some trivial cause the cooling agencies may be interfered with, and then. 



119.] HEAT OF THE BODY. 121 

already seen, by the action of the oxygen within us. 
Each capiUary tube is a tiny stove, where oxygen is 
combining with the tissues of the body (see note, p. 
10 7). Every contraction of a muscle develops heat, 
the latent heat being set free by the breaking up of 
the tissue. The warmth so produced is distributed 
by the circulation of the blood. Thus the arteries, 
veins, and capillaries form a series of hot-water 
pipes, through which the heated liquid is forced by 
a pump — the heart — while the heat is kept up, not 
by a central furnace and boiler, but by a multitude 
of little fires placed here and there along its course. 
2, Regulation. — The temperature of the body is 
regulated b}^ means of the pores of the skin and the 
mucous membrane in the air-passages. When the 
system becomes too warm, the blood-vessels on the 
surface expand, the blood fills them, the fluid exudes 
into the perspiratory glands, pours out upon the ex- 
terior, and by evaporation cools the body.* When 
the temperature of the body is too low, the vessels 
contract, less blood goes to the surface, the perspi- 
ration decreases, and the loss of heat by evaporation 
diminishes.! 

the heating processes getting the superiority, a high temperature or fever 
comes on. Or the reverse may ensue. In Asiatic cholera, the constitution 
of the blood is so changed that its disks can no longer carry oxygen into 
the system, the heat-making processes are put a stop to, and, the temper- 
ature declining, the body becomes of a marble coldness, characteristic of 
that terrible disease.— Draper. 

* Just as water sprinkled on the tloor cools a vo<^m.— Popular P/i>/iii(>\ 
p. 255. 

t Thus one is enabled to go into an oven whore biv;ul is baking, or 
into the arctic regions where the mountains are snow ai\d ilio rivers ice. 
Even by these extremes the temperature of the blood will be but slightly*- 



122 THE CIRCULATIOIS'. [119,120. 

Life by Death. — The body is being incessantly 
corroded, and portions borne a\Yay by the tireless 
oxygen. The scales of the epidermis are constantly 
falling off and being replaced by secretion from the 
cutis. The disks of the blood die, and new ones 
spring into being. On the continuance of this inter- 
change depend our health and vigor. Every act is 
a destructive one. Not a bend of the finger, not a 
wink of the eye, not a thought of the brain but is 
at some expense of the machine itself. Every process 
of life is thus a process of death. The more rapidly 
this change goes on, and fresh, vigorous tissue takes 
the place of the old, the more elasticity and strength 
we possess. 

Change of our Bodies. — There is a belief that our 
bodies change once in seven 3^ears. From the nature 
of the case, the rate must vary with the labor we 
perform ; the organs most used altering oftenest. 
Probably the parts of the body in incessant employ- 
ment are entirely reorganized many times within a 
single year.* 

The Three Vital Organs. — Death is produced by 
the stoppage of the action of any one of the three 
organs — the heart, the lungs, or the brain. They 
have, therefore, been termed the " Tripod of Life." 
Really, however, as Huxley has remarked, "Life has 



affected. In the one case, the flood-gates of perspiration will be opened 
and the superfluous heat expended in turning the water to vapor ; and, in 
the other, they will be tightly closed and all the heat retained. 

* To use a homely simile, our bodies are hke the Irishman's knife, 
which, after having had several new blades, and at least one new handle, 
was yet the same old knife. 



120,121.] WONDEES OF THE HEART. 123 

but two legs to stand upon." If respiration and cir- 
culation be kept up artificially, the removal of the 
brain will not produce death.* 

Wonders of the Heart. — The ancients thought the 
heart to be the seat of love. There were located the 
purity and goodness as well as the evil passions of 
the soul.f Modern science has found the seat of the 
mental powers to be in the brain. But while it has 
thus robbed the heart of its romance, it has revealed 
wonders which eclipse all the mysteries of the past. 
This marvelous little engine throbs on continually 
at the rate of one hundred thousand beats per day, 
forty millions per year, often three billions without 
a single stop. It is the most powerful of machines. 
" Its daily work is equal to one third that of all the 
muscles. If it should expend its entire force in lift- 
ing its own weight vertically, it would rise twenty 
thousand feet in an hour."| Its vitality is amazing. 
The most tireless of organs while life exists, it is 
one of the last to yield when life expires. So long 
as a flutter lingers at the heart, we know the spark 
of being is not quite extinguished, and there is hope 

* When death really does take place, i. ?., when the vital organs are 
stopped, it is noticeable that the tissues do not die for some time there- 
after. If suitable stimulants be applied, as the galvanic battery, transfusion 
of blood, etc., the mviscles may be made to contract, and many of the 
phenomena of life be exhibited. Dr. Bi'own-Sequard thus produced mus- 
cular action in the hand of a criminal, fourteen hours after his execution. 

t Our common words, hearty, lavge-h carted, coui'age (ro/\ the heart), are 
remains of this fanciful theory. 

t "The greatest exi:)loit ever accomplished by a locomotive, was to lift 
itself through less than one eighth of that distance." Vast and constant 
as is this i^rocess, so pcn-fect is the machinery, that there are pei-sons win-* 
do not even know where the heart lies until disease or accident reveals its 
location. 



124 



THE CIECULATION". 



[121, 122. 



of restoration. During a life such as we sometimes 
see, it has propelled half a million tons of blood, yet 
repaired itself as it has wasted, during its patient, 
unfaltering labor. The play of its valves and the 



Pig. 43. 




Lymphatics of the Head and JSfeck, showing the Glands, and, B, the thoracic dud 
as it empties into the left innominate rein at the junction of the left jugular and sub- 
clavian veins. 

rhythm of its throb have never failed until, at the 
command of the great Master- Workman, the " wheels 
of life have stood still."* 

The Lymphatic Circulation is intimatelj' connected 
with that of the blood. It is, however, more delicate 

* Our brains are seventy-five-year clocks. The Angel of Life winds 
theni np once for all, then closes the case, and gives the key into the hand 
of the Angel of the E.esurrection. Tic-tac ! tic-tac ! go the wheels of 
thought; our will can not stop them, they can not stop themselves; sleep 
can not stop them ; madness only makes them go faster ; death alone can 
break Into the case, and, seizing the ever-swinging pendulum which we call 
the heart, silence at last the clicking of the terrible escapement we have 
carried so long beneath our wrinkled foreheads.— Holmes. 



122,123.] THE LYMPHATIC CIRCULATION. 



125 



Pig. 44. 



in its organization, and less thoroughly understood. 
Nearly every part of the body is 
permeated by a second series of 
capillaries, closely interlaced with 
the blood-capillaries already de- 
scribed, and termed the Lym- 
phatic system. The larger num- 
ber converge into the thoracic 
duct — a small tube, about the size 
of a goose-quill, which empties 
into the great veins of the neck 
(Fig. 43). Along their course 
the lymphatics frequently pass 
through glands, — hard, pinkish 
bodies of all sizes, from that of a 
hemp-seed to an almond. These 
glands are often enlarged by dis- 
ease, and then are easily felt. 

The Lymph, which circulates 
through the lymphatics like blood 
through the veins, is a thin, color- 
less liquid, very like the serum. 
This fluid, probably in great 
measure an overflow from the 
blood-vessels, is gathered up by 
t^e lymphatics, undergoes in the 
glands some process of prepara- 
tion not well understood, and is r^>J»n^'>ofic^' '<» ^^" ^<'V, ftw, 

' Glands at the Hijk 

then returned to the circulation. 

Office of the Lymphatics. — Tt is thought that por- 
tions of the waste matter o\' the body capable of 




126 THE CIRCULATIOH. [123,124. 

further use are thus, by a wise economy, retained 
and elaborated in the system. 

The lacteals, a class of lymphatics which will be 
described under Digestion (p. 16 6), aid in taking up 
the food ; after a meal they become milk-white. In 
the lungs, the lymphatics are abundant ; sometimxcs 
absorbing the poison of disease, and diffusing it 
through the system.* 

The lymphatics of the skin we have already 
spoken of as producing the phenomena of absorp- 
tion, f Nature in her effort to heal a cut deposits an 
excess of matter to fill up the breach. Soon, the 
lymphatics go to work and remove the surplus ma- 
terial to other parts of the body. 

Animals that hibernate are supported during the 
winter by the fat which their absorbents carry into 
the circulation from the extra supply they haA^e laid 
up during the summer. In famine or in sickness, a 
man unconsciously consumes his own flesh. 

Diseases, etc. — 1. Congestion is an unnatural ac- 
cumulation of blood in any part of the bod}^ The 
excess is indicated by the redness. If we put our 
feet in hot water, the capillaries will expand by the 
heat, and the blood will set that way to fill them. The 
red nose and purplish face of the drunkard show a 
congestion of the capillaries. Those vessels have loet 
their power of contraction, and so are permanently 

* Pers'^ns have tlius been poisoned by tiny particles of arsenic wbich 
evaporate from green wall-paper, and float in tbe air. 

t Pain is often relieved by injecting under the cuticle a solution of 
morphine, which is taken up by the absorbents, and so carried through 
the system. 



124, 125.J DISEASES, ETC. 127 

increased in size and filled with blood. Blushing is 
a temporary congestion. The capillaries being ex- 
panded only for an instant by the nervous excite- 
ment, contract again and expel the blood.* 

2. Inflammation means simply a burning. If there 
is irritation or an injury at any spot, the blood sets 
thither and reddens it. This extra supply, both by 
its presence and the friction of the swiftly-moving 
currents, produces heat. The pressure of the dis- 
tended vessels upon the nerves frets them, and pro- 
duces pain. The swelling stretches the walls of the 
blood-vessels, and the serum or lymph oozes through. 
The four characteristics of an inflammation are red- 
ness, heat, pain, and swelling. 

3. Bleeding^ if from an artery, will be of red 
blood, and will come in jets ; f if from the veins, it 

* Blushing is a purely local modification of the circulation of this 
kind, and it will be instructive to consider how a blush is brought about. 
An emotion— sometimes pleasurable, sometimes painful— takes possession 
of the mind; thereupon a hot flush is felt, the skin grows red, and accord- 
ing to the intensity of the emotion these changes are confined to the 
cheeks only, or extend to the "roots of the hair," or "all over." What is 
the cause of these changes ? The blood is a red and a hot fluid ; the skin red- 
dens and grows hot, because its vessels contain an increased quantity of 
this red and hot fluid ; and its vessels contain more, because the small 
arteries suddenly dilate, the natural moderate contraction of their muscles 
being superseded by a state of relaxation. In other words, the action oi 
the nerves which cause this muscular contraction is suspended. On \\\o 
other hand, in many people, extreme terror causes the skin to gi'ow cold, 
.and the face to appear pale and pinched. Under these circumstances, in < 
fact, the supply of blood to the skin is greatly diminished, in consequence 
of an excessive stimiilation of the nerves of the small arteries, which 
causes them to contract and so to cut olf the supply of blood more or loss 
completely.— Huxley's Physiology. 

t The elasticity of the arteries (p. 114) is a phj'^ical property, as may 
easily be shown by removing one from a dead body. If they wei-o rigiil 
and unyielding, a considerable portion of the heart's foi-ce would bo use- 
lessly expended against their walls. Their expansion is a passive state, and 



128 THE CIKCULATION. [125,126, 

will be of dark blood, and will flow in a steady 
stream. If only a small vessel be severed, it may be 
checked by a piece of cloth held or bound firmly 
upon the wound. If a large trunk be cut, especially 
in a limb, make a knot in a handkerchief and tie it 
loosely about the limb ; then, placing the knot on 
the wound, with a short stick twist the handkerchief 
tightly enough to stop the flow. If you have a piece 
of cloth to use as a pad, the knot will be unneces- 
sary. If it be an artery that is cut, the pressure 
should be applied between the wound and the heart ; 
if a vein, beyond the wound. If you are alone, and 
are severely wounded, or in an emergency, like a 
railroad accident, use the remedy which has saved 
many a life upon the battle-fleld — bind or hold a 
handful of dry earth upon the wound, elevate the 
part, and await surgical assistance. 

4. Scrofula is generally inherited. It is a disease 
affecting the lymphatic glands, most commonly those 
of the neck, forming "kernels," as they are called. 
It is, however, liable to attack any organ. Persons 
inheriting this disease can hope to ward off its in- 



depends on tlie pressure of the blood within them ; but their vital con- 
tractility is an active property.— The intermittent movement of the blood 
through the arteries is strikingly shown in the manner in which they 
bleed when wounded. When an artery is cut across, the blood spurts out 
with great force to a distance of several feet, but the flow is not continuous. 
It escapes in a series of jets, the long, slender scarlet stream rising and 
falling with each beat of the heart, and this pulsation of the blood-stream 
tells at once that it comes from a wounded artery. But as the blood trav- 
erses these elastic tubes, the abruptness of the heart's stroke becomes 
gradually broken and the current equalized, so that the greater the distance 
from the heart the less obvious is the pulsation, until at length in the 
capillaries the rate of the stream becomes uniform. 



126,127.] DISEASES, ETC. 129 

sidious approaches only by the utmost care in diet 
and exercise ; by the use of pure air and warm 
clothing, and by 'avoiding late hours and undue 
stimulus of all kinds. Probably the most fatal and 
common excitants of the latent seeds of scrofula are 
insufficient or improper food, and want of ventila- 
tion. 

5. A Cold. — We put on a thinner dress than usual, 
or, when heated, sit in a cool place. The skin is 
chilled, and the perspiration checked. The blood, no 
longer cleansed and reduced in volume by the drain- 
age through the pores, sets to the lungs for purifica- 
tion. That organ is oppressed, breathing becomes 
difficult, and the extra mucus secreted by the irri- 
tated surface of the membrane is thrown off by 
coughing. The mucous membrane of the nasal 
chamber sympathizes with the difficulty, and we 
have ''a cold in the head," or a catarrh. In general, 
the excess of blood seeks the weakest point, and 
develops there any latent disease.* Where one per- 
son has been killed in battle, thousands have died of 
colds. 

To restore the equipoise must be the object of all 
treatment. We put the feet in hot water and they 
soon become red and gorged with the blood which is 

* A party go out for a walk and are caught in a rain, or, conung home 
heated from some close assembly, throw off their coats to enjoy the deli- 
ciously-cool breeze. The next day, one has a fever, another a slight head- 
ache, another pleurisy, another pneumonia, another rheumatism, while 
some of the number escape without any ill-feeling whatever. The last had 
vital force sufficient to withstand the disturbance, but in the others there 
were various weak points, and to these the excess of blood has gone, pro- 
ducing congestion. 



130 



THE CIECULATION. 



[127, 128. 



thus called from the congested organs. Hot foot- 
baths have saved multitudes of lives. It is well in 
case of a sudden cold to go immediately to bed, and 
with hot drinks and extra clothing open the pores, 
and induce free perspiration. This calls the blood to 
the surface, and, by equalizing and diminishing the 
volume of the circulation, affords relief."^ 

6. Cata7'rh commonly manifests itself by the 
symptoms known as those of a '' cold in the head," 
and is produced by the same causes. It is an in- 
flammation of the mucous membrane lining the 
nasal and bronchial passages. One going out from 
the hot dry air of a furnace-heated room into the 
cold damp atmosphere of our climate can hardly 
avoid irritating and inflaming this tender membrane. 
If our rooms were heated less intensely, and venti- 
lated more thoroughly, so that we had not the pres- 
ent hot-house sensitiveness to cold air, this disease 
would be far less universal, and perhaps would dis- 
appear entirely, f (See p. 315.) 

* Severe colds may often be relieved in their first stages by using 
lemons freely during the day, and taking at night fifteen or twenty grains 
of sodium bromide. Great care, however, should be observed in employing 
the latter remedy, except under the advice of a physician. 

t Dr. Gray gives the following table : 



■Rooms Occupied by Letter-press Printers. 


Number per 

cent. 

Spitting Blood. 


Subject to 
Catarrh, 


104 men having less than 500 cubic feet of air 
to breathe . 


12.50 
4.35 
3.96 


12.50 


115 men having from 500 to 600 cubic feet of 
air to breathe . .... 


3.58 


101 men having more than 600 cubic feet of 
air to breathe 


1.98 



128, 1^8a.] - ALCOHOL. 131 



ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND NARCOTICS. 

1. ALCOHOL. 

That we may understand fully the effect of alco- 
hol upon the human system, let us first consider its 
nature and the process by which harmless fruits and 
grains are made to produce a substance so unlike 
themselves in its deleterious effects. 

How Alcohol is Made. — When any substance con- 
taining sugar, as fruit-juice, is caused to ferment, 
the elements of which the sugar is composed, viz., 
hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, so re-arrange them- 
selves as to form carbon dioxide (carbonic acid), 
alcohol, and certain volatile oils and ethers.* The 
carbonic acid partly evaporates and partly remains 
ii) the liquor ; the alcohol is the poisonous or intox- 
icating principle, while the oils and ethers impart 
the peculiar flavor and odor. Thus wine is fermented 
grape-juice, and cider is fermented apple-juice, each 
having its distinctive taste and smell, and each con- 
taining, as one product of fermentation, more or less 
of the inebriating alcohol. Wines are also made 
from other fruits and vegetables, such as oranges, 
currants, tomatoes, and rhubarb, but the alcohol 
which they contain is of the same nature in all 
cases, whether the fermented liquor has been manu- 
factured ill great quantities, by large presses, or by 

* The precise relation betwoou chemical phoiioiuona and the physioloj:- 
ical functions of the orj^unic ferment is still to be discovered ; and all that 
has been said, written, ami brought forward to decide the question, needs 
experimental proof.- ScnrTZENUKKOEK. 



132 THE CIKCULATIOX. [I28a, 1286. 

a simple domestic process for home cons"amption. It 
is important to remember this fact, as many people 
do not associate alcohol with such beverages as do- 
mestic wines and home-brewed ales, whereas it is 
always present with the same treacherous qualities 
which attach to it every-where. An apple is a whole- 
some and useful fruit, and its simple juice, fragrant 
and refreshing, is a delight to the palate ; but apple- 
juice converted into cider and allowed to enter upon 
alcoholic fermentation, loses its innocence, and be- 
comes a dangerous drink, because it is the nature of 
the alcohol it now contains to create an appetite for 
more alcohol. (See p. 185.) 

What is a Ferment ? — Ferments, of which there 
are many varieties in nature, are minute living or- 
ganisms analogous to the microscopic objects called 
bacteria or microbes,* of Avhich we have heard much 
in late j^ears, especiall}^ in connection with the fa- 
mous researches and experiments of the great French 
investigator, M. Pasteur. He tells us that "Every 
fermentation has its specific ferment. This minute 
being produces the transformation which constitutes 
fermentation by breathing the oxygen of the sub- 
stance to be fermented, or by appropriating for an 
instant the whole substance, then destroying it by 
what mav be termed the secretion of the fermented 



* There is no ■^ell-deflned limit between ferments and bacteria, any 
more than between ferments and fungi, or again, between fungi and bac- 
teria. Their smaller size is the principal difference which separates bacte- 
ria from ferments, although there are bacteria of large size, such as are so 
frequently found in the mouth of even a healthy man, and which much 
resemble in their mode of growth some of the lower fungi. — Teoitessaet. 



1286,128c.] YEAST. 133 

products."* The effect, therefore, of fermentation is 
to change entirely the character of the substance 
upon which' it acts ; hence it is an error to assume 
that fermented hquors, as beer, wine, and cider, are 
safe drinks because the grains or fruits from which 
they are produced are healthful foods. 

Yeast is a ferment which causes alcoholic fer- 
mentation. It consists of microscopic plants, which 
increase by the formation of multitudes of tiny cells 
not more than -24-Vo" of an inch in diameter. In the 
brewing of beer they grow in great abundance, mak- 
ing common brewer's yeast. Ferments or their 
spores float in the air ready to enter any ferment- 
able liquid, and under favorable conditions thej mul- 
tiply with great activity and energy. The favorable 
conditions include the presence of oxygen or sugar ;t 
oxygen being, as we know, necessary for the devel- 
opment and the reproduction of all cell life (p. 10 7), 
and ferments having the power to resolve sugar, 

* What we call spontaneous fermentation often occurs, as when apple- 
juice turns to hard cider by simple exposure to the air. Science teaches 
us, however, that this change is always effected by the action of the busy 
little ferments which, wandering about, drop into the liquid, begin their 
rapid propagation, and, in the act of growing, evolve the products of the 
fermentation. "If the above liquids be left only in contact with air which 
has been passed through a red-hot platinum tube, and thus the living 
sporules destroyed ; or if the air be simply filtered by passing through 
cotton wool, and the sporules prevented from coming into the liquid, it is 
found that these fermentable liquids may be preserved tor any longtli of 
time without undergoing the slightest change."— Rosook. 

t Yeast, like ordinary plants, buds and multiplies even in the absence 
of fermentable sugar, when it is furnished with free oxygen. This multi- 
plication, however, is favored by the presence of sugar, which is a more 
appropriate element than non-fermentable hydrocarbon oompo\inds. Yeast is 
also able to bud and multiply in the absence of free oxygen, but in this case 
a fermentable substance is indispensable.— Sciiutzenberger's Ftrmtntadon. 



134 THE CIRCULATIOX. [128c, 128(?. 

which penetrates by endosmose into the interior of 
the cell, into alcohol, carbonic acid, glycerine, snc- 
cinic acid, and oxygen. 

Beer. — The barley used for making beer is first 
malted, /. e., sprouted, to turn a part of its starch 
into sugar. When this process has gone far enough, 
it is checked by heating the grain in a kiln until 
the germ is destroyed. The malt is then crushed, 
steeped, and fermented with hops and yeast. The 
sugar gradually disappears, alcohol is formed, and 
carbonic acid escapes into the air. The beer is then 
put into casks, where it undergoes a second, slower 
fermentation, and the carbonic acid gathers ; when 
the liquor is drawn, this gas bubbles to the surface, 
giving to the beer its sparkling, foamy look. 

Wine is generally made from the juice of the 
grape. The juice, or must, as it is called, is placed 
in rats in the cellar, where the low temperature fa- 
vors a slow fermentation. If all the sugar be con- 
verted into alcohol and carbonic-acid gas, a dry wine 
will remain ; if the fermentation be checked, a 
sweet wine will result ; and if the wine be bottled 
while the change is still going on, a brisk efferves- 
cing liquor like champagne, will be formed. All 
these are dangerous beverages because of the alcohol 
they contain. 

Distillation. — Alcohol is so volatile that, by the 
application of heat, it can be driven *off as a vapor 
from the fermented liquid in which it has been 
produced. Steam and various fragrant substances 
will accompany it, and, if they are collected and 



128r/,128f.] VARIETIES OF ALCOHOL. 135 

condensed in a cool receiver, a new and stronger 
liquor will be formed, having a distinctive odor. 

In this way whiskey is distilled from fermented 
corn, rye, barley, or potatoes ; the alcohol of com- 
merce is distilled from whiskey ; brandy, from wine ; 
rum, from fermented molasses ; and gin, from fer- 
mented barley and rye, afterward distilled with juni- 
per berries. 

Varieties and Properties of Alcohol. — There are 
several varieties of alcohol produced from distillation 
of various substances. Thus Methyl Alcohol is ob- 
tained from the decomposition of hard wood when 
exposed to intense heat with little or no oxygen 
present. It is a light, volatile liquid, l^hich closely 
resembles ordinary alcohol in all its properties. It is 
used in the manufacture of aniline dyes, in making 
varnishes, and for burning in spirit lamps. Amyl 
Alcohol* is the chief constituent of "fusel oil," found 
in whiskey distilled from potatoes. It is often pres- 
ent in common alcohol, giving a slightl}^ unpleasant 
odor when it evaporates from the hand. Fusel oil 
is extremely poisonous and lasting in its effects, so 
that when contained in liquors it greatly increases 
their destructive and intoxicating properties. 



* The odor of amylic alcohol is sweet, nauseous, and heavy. The sen- 
sation of its presence remains long. In taste it is burning and acrid, and 
it is itself practically insohible in water. When it is diluted with common 
alcohol it dissolves freely in water, and gives a soft and rather unctuous 
flavor, I may call it a fruity flavor, something like that of ripe peai"s. 
Amyl alcohol, introduced as an adulterant, is an extremely dangerous ad- 
dition to ordinary alcohol, in whatever forni it is presented. T'rom the 
<iuantities of it imported into tliis country, it is believed to bo employed 
largely in the adulteration of wines and spirits.— Richardson. 



136 THE CIECULATIOX. [128e, 128/. 

Ethyl Alcohol, which is that which we have de- 
scribed as obtained from fermentation of fruits and 
grains, is the ordinary alcohol of commerce. We 
have spoken of its volatility. This property permits 
it to pass into vapor at 56° Fahr. It boils at 173° 
Fahr. (Water boils at 212°.) Like Methyl Alcohol, 
it burns without smoke and with great heat,"^ and is 
therefore of much value in the arts. Its great solv- 
ent power over fats and mixed oils renders it a 
useful agent in many industrial operations. It is 
also a powerful antiseptic, and no one who visits a 
museum of natural history will be likely to forget 
the rows of bottles within which float reptilian and 
batrachian specimens, preserved in alcohol. 

To alcohol, also, we are indebted for various 
anaesthetic agents, which, when not abused (p. 340), 
are of inestimable value. Thus, if certain propor- 
tions of alcohol and nitric acid be mixed together 
and heated, nitrite of amyl, so ser^uceable in reliev- 
ing the agonizing spasms peculiar to that dread dis- 
ease, angina pectoris, will be obtained. If, instead of 
nitric, we use sulphuric acid, we shall get ether ; if 



* Pour a little alcohol into a saucer and apply an Ignited match. The 
liquid Tvill suddenly take fire, burning with intense heat, hut feeble light. 
In this process, alcohol takes up oxygen from the air, forming carbonic-acid 
gas, and water.— Hold a red-hot coil of platinum wire in a goblet containing 
a few drops of alcohol, and a peculiar odor will be noticed. It denotes the 
formation of aldehyde — a substance produced in the slow oxidation of alcohol. 
Still further oxidized, the alcohol woTild be changed into acetic acid—\h.Q 
sour prraciple of vinegar.— Put the white of an egg— nearly pure albumen— 
into a cup, and pour upon it some alcohol, or even strong brandy ; the 
fluid albumen will coagulate, becoming hard and solid. In this connection, 
it is well to remember that albumen is contained in our food, while the 
brain is largely an albuminous substance. 



128/.] VARIETIES OF ALCOHOL. 137 

chlorine be passed through alcohol, hydrate of chloral 
is the result ; and, if chloride of lime and alcohol be 
treated together, the outcome is chloroform. 

One of the most striking properties of alcohol, 
and one which we shall hereafter consider in its dis- 
astrous effects upon the tissues of our body, is its 
affinity for water. "^ When strong alcohol is exposed 



* Suppose, then, a certain measure of alcohol be taken into the stomach, 
it will be absorbed there, but, previous to absorption, it will have to un- 
dergo a proper degree of dilution with water; for there is this peculiarity- 
respecting alcohol when it is separated by an animal membrane from a 
watery fluid like the blood, that it will not pass through the membrane 
until it has become charged, to a given point of dilution, with water. 
Alcohol is itself, in fact, so greedy for water that it will pick it up from 
watery textures, and deprive them of it until, by its saturation, its power 
of reception is exhausted, after which it will difi'use into the current of 
circulating fluid. 

To illustrate this fact of dilution I perform a sample experiment. Into 
a bladder is placed a mixture consisting of equal parts of alcohol and dis- 
tilled water. Into the neck of the bladder a long glass tube is inserted and 
firmly tied. Then the bladder is immersed in a saline fluid representing 
an artificial serum of blood. The result is, that the alcohol in the bladder 
absorbs water from the surrounding saline solution, and thereby a column 
of fluid passes up into the glass tube. A second mixture of alcohol and 
water, in the proportion this time of one part of alcohol to two of water, 
is put into another bladder immersed in like manner in an ai-tificial 
serum. In this instance a little fluid also passes from the oiitside into the 
bladder, so that there is a rise of water in the tube, but less than in the 
previous instance. A third mixture, consisting of one part of alcohol with 
three parts of water, is placed in another little bladder, and is also sus- 
pended in the artificial serum. In this case there is, for a time, a small 
rise of fluid in the tube connected with the bladder; but after awhile, 
owing to the dilution which took place, a current from within outward 
sots in, and the tube becomes empty. Thus each bladder charged originally 
with the same quantity of fluid contains at last a different quantity. The 
first contains more than it did originally, the second only a little more, the 
third a little less. From the third, absorption takes place, and if I keep 
changing and replacing the outer fluid which surrounds the bladder with 
fresh serum, I can in time, owing to the double ciirront of water into the 
bladder through its coats, and of water and alcohol o\it of the bladder into 
the serum, remove all the alcohol. In this way it is removed fixMu the 
stomach into the circulating blood after it has been swallowed. When we 



138 THE CIRCULATION. [128/, 128^. 

to the air, it absorbs moisture and becomes diluted ; 
at the same time, the spirit itself evaporates. The 
commercial or proof-spirit is about one half water; 
the strongest holds ten per cent. ; and to obtain ab- 
solute or waterless alcohol, requires careful distilla- 
tion in connection with some substance, as lime, that 
has a still greater affinity for water, and so can 
despoil the alcohol.^ 

Alcohol in its Destructive Relation to Plant and 
Animal Life.^If we pour a little quantity of strong 
spirits upon a growing plant in our garden or con- 
servatory, we shall soon see it shrivel and die. If we 
apply it to insects or small reptiles which we may 
have captured for specimens in our cabinet, the same 
potent poison will procure for them a speedy death. 
If we force one of our domestic animals to take 
habitual doses of it, the animal will not only strongly 
protest against the unnatural and nauseous potion, 
but it will gradually sicken and lose all power for 
usefulness. "If I wished," says a distinguished En- 
ghsh physician, "by scientific experiment to spoil 
for work the most perfect specimen of a w^orking 
animal, say a horse, without inflicting mechanical 
injur}^, I could choose no better agent for the pur- 
pose of the experiment than alcohol."* 

dilute alcoliol witli water before drinking it, we quicken its absorption. 
If we do not dilute it suflSciently, it is diluted in the stomach, by transuda- 
tion of water in the stomach, until the required reduction for its absorp- 
tion; the current then sets in toward the blood, and passes into the 
circulating canals by the veins.— Richardson. 

* " The effects produced by alcohol are common, so far as I can dis- 
cover, to every animal. Alcohol is a universal intoxicant, and in the 
higher orders of animals is capable of inducing the most systematic phe- 



128^7, 128A.] ALCOHOL IN WINE, ETC. 139 

Alcohol in Wine, Beer, and Cider Identical with 
Alcohol in Ardent Spirits. — In all liquors the active 
principle is alcohol. It comprises from six to eight 
per cent, of ale and porter, seven to seventeen per 
cent, of wine, and forty to fifty per cent, of brandy 
and Avhiskey. All these may therefore be considered 
as alcohol more or less diluted with water and fla- 
vored with various aromatics. The taste of different 
liquors — as brandy, gin, beer, cider, etc. — may vary 
greatly, but they all produce certain physiological 
effects, due to their common ingredient — alcohol. 
"In whatever form it enters," says Dr. Richardson, 
"whether as spirit, wine, or ale, matters little when 
its specific influence is kept steadily in view. To 
say this man only drinks ale, that man only drinks 
wine, while a third drinks spirits, is merely to say, 
when the apology is unclothed, that all drink the 
same danger." In other words, the poisonous nature 
of alcohol, and the effects which result when it is 
taken into the stomach, are definite and immutable 
facts, which are not dependent upon any particular 
name or disguise under which the poison finds en- 
trance. 

■We shall learn, as we study the influence of alco- 
hol upon the human system, that one of its most 
subtle (diaracteristics is the progressive appetite for 

nomena of disease. "Rut it is res(>rved f()r man himsolf to exhibit these 
phenomoiia in their purest I'orni, and to present, throutih them, in the 
morbid eonditions belonjjinij: (o his aijce, a distinct pathok\u:y. Had as this 
is, it ni1,<2:ht be worse; for if th(> (n-ils of alcohol were made to extend 
equally to ar.iinaJs lower than man, we should soon have none that wero 
tamabl(\ none that were workahe, anil none that were eatable." 



140 THE CIECULATION. [128A, 129. 

itself (p. 185) which it induces, an appetite which, 
in many cases, is formed long before its unhappy 
subject is aware of his danger. The intelligent pupil, 
who knows how to reason from cause to effect, needs 
hardly to be told, in view of this physical truth, 
of the peril that lies in the first draught of any 
fermented liquor, even though it be so seemingly 
harmless as a glass of home-brewed beer or " slightly- 
beaded" cider. Few of us really understand our 
own inherent weakness or the hereditary proclivities 
(p. 186) that may be lurking in our blood, ready to 
master us when opportunity invites ; but we may 
be tolerably certain that if we resolutely refuse to 
tamper with cider, beer, or wine, we shall not fall 
into temptation before rum, gin, or brandy. Since 
we know that in all fermented beverages there is 
present the same treacherous element, alcohol, we 
are truly wise only when we decline to measure 
arms in any way with an enemy so seductive in its 
advances, so insidious in its influence, and so terrible 
in its triumph.* 



* Aside from all considerations of physical, mental, and moral injury 
wrouglit by the nse of alcoholic drinks, every young man may well take 
into account the damaging effect of such a dangerous habit upon his busi- 
ness prospects. Careful business men are becoming more and more unwill- 
ing to take into their employ any person addicted to liquor-drinking. 
Within the past few years the officers of several railroads, having found 
that a considerable portion of their losses could be directly traced to the 
drinking habits of some one or more of their employes, have ordered the 
dismissal of all persons in their service who were known to use intoxicants, 
with the additional provision that persons thus discharged should never be 
re-instated. Many Eastern manufactories have adopted similar rules. All 
mercantile agencies now report the habits of business men in this re«pect, 
and some life-insurance companies refuse to insure habitual drinkers, re- 
garding such risks as " extra-hazardous." 



129,130.] GENERAL EFFECT OF ALCOHOL. 141 

Let US now consider the physiological effects of 
alcohol upon the organs immediately connected wiih 
the circulation of the blood. 

General Effect of Alcohol upon the Circulation. — 
During the experiment described on page 118, the 
influence of alcohol upon the blood may be beauti- 
fully tested. Place on the web of the frog's foot a 
drop of dilute spirit. The blood-vessels immediately 
expand — an effect known as '^Vascular enlargements 
Channels before unseen open, and the blood-disks fly 
along at a brisker rate. Next, touch the membrane 
with a drop of pure spirit. The blood channels 
quickly contract ; the cells slacken their speed ; and, 
finally, all motion ceases. The flesh shrivels up and 
dies. The circulation thus stopped is stopped forever. 
The part affected will in time slough off. Alcohol 
has killed it. 

The influence of alcohol upon the human system 
is very similar. When strong, as in spirits, it acts 
as an irritant, narcotic poison (p. 142, note). Di- 
luted, as in fermented liquors, it dilates the blood- 
vessels, quickens the circulation, hastens the heart- 
throbs, and accelerates the respiration. 

The Effect of Alcohol upon the Heart. — What 
means this rapid flow of the blood? It shows that 
the heart is overworking. The nerves that lead to 
the minute capillaries and regulate the passage of 
the vital current through the c^xtriMiio parts of the 
body, are paralyzed by this activi^ narci>ti(\ The 
tiny blood-vessels at onco expand. This "Vascular 
enlargement" removes the resistance to the passage 



142 THE CIECULATIOX. [130,131. 

of the blood, and a rapid beating of the heart 
results.* 

Careful experiments show that two ounces of al- 
cohol — an amount contained in the daily potations 
of a very moderate ale or whiskey drinker — increase 
the heart-beats six thousand in twenty-four hours ; — 
a degree of work represented by that of lifting up a 
weight of seven tons to a height of one foot. Re- 
ducing this sum to ounces and dividing, we find 
that the heart is driven to do extra work equivalent 
to lifting seven ounces one foot high one thousand 
four hundred and ninety-three times each hour ! jSTo 
wonder that the drinker feels a reaction, a phj^sical 
languor, after the earliest effects of his indulgence 
have passed away. The heart flags, the brain and 
the muscles feel exhausted, and rest and sleep are 
imperatively demanded. During this time of excite- 
ment, the machinery of life has really been "running 



* Dr. B. W. Eicliardson's experiments tend to prove tliat this appar- 
ently stimulating action of alcohol upon the heart is due to the paralysis 
of the nerves that control the capillaries (Xote, p. 208), which ordinarilj- 
check the flow of the blood (p. 117). The heart, like other muscles under 
the influence of alcohol, really loses power, and contracts less vigorouslj^ 
(p. 183). Dr. Palmer, of the University of iMichigan, also claims that alco- 
hol, in fact, diminishes the strength of the heart. Prof. Martin, of Johns 
Hopkins University, from a series of carefully conducted experiments upon 
dogs, concludes that blood containing one fourth per cent, of alcohol almost 
invariably diminishes witliin a minute the work done by the heart; blood 
containing one half per cent, always diminishes it, and may reduce the 
amount pumped out by the left ventricle so that it is not sufBcient to 
supply the coronary arteries. One hundred years ago, alcohol was always 
spoken of as a stimulant. Modern experiment and investigation challenged 
that definition, and it is now classified as a narcotic. There are, however, 
able physicians who maintain that, taken in small doses, and under certain 
physical conditions, it has the effect of a stimulant. All agree that, when 
taken in any amount, it tends to create an appetite for more. 



131,132.] INFLUENCE UPON THE MEMBRANES. 143 

down." "It is hard work," says Richardson, "to fight 
against alcohol ; harder than rowing, walking, wrest- 
ling, coal-heaving, or the tread-mill itself." 

All this is only the first effect of alcohol upon the 
heart. Long-continued use of this disturbing agent 
causes a "Degeneration of the muscular fiber," '^' so 
that the heart loses its old power to drive the blood, 
and, after a time, fails to respond even to the spur 
of the excitant that has- urged it to ruin. 

Influence upon the Membranes. — The flush of the 
face and the blood-shot eye, that are such noticeable 
effects of even a small quantity of liquor, indicate 
the condition of all the internal organs. The deli- 
cate linings of the stomach, heart, brain, liver, and 
lungs are reddened, and every tiny vein is inflamed, 
like the blushing nose itself. If the use of liquor is 
habitual, this "Vascular enlargement," that at first 
slowly passed away after each indulgence, becomes 
permanent, and now the discolored, blotched skin 
reveals the state of the entire mucous membrane. 



* This "Degeneration" of the various tissues of the body, we shall 
find, as we proceed, is one of the most marked eflPects of alcoholized blood. 
The change consists in an excess of liquid, or, more commonly, in a deposit 
of fat. This fatty matter is not an increase of the organ, but it takes the 
place of a part of its fiber, thus weakening the structure, and reducing the 
power of the tissue to perform its function. Almost every-whore in tho 
body we thus find cells — muscle-cells, liver-cells, nerve-cells, as the case 
may be — changing one by one, under the intluenee of this potent dis- 
organizer, into unhealthy fat-cells. "Alcohol has been well termed,"' says 
the London Lancet, "the 'Genius of Degeneration.'" 

The cause of this degeneration can be easil.N- explained. The increased 
activity of the circulation compels a correspondingly-increased activity of 
the cell -changes : but the essential condition of health fnl change — the 
presence of additional oxygen- is wanting (see p. 14;5), and the operation is 
imperfectly perloi-med. Hhooik. 



144 THE CIRCULATION. [132,133. 

We learned on page 55 what a peculiar office the 
membrane fills in nourishing the organs it enwraps. 
Any thing that disturbs its delicate structure must 
mar its efficiency. Alcohol has a wonderful affinity 
for water. To satisfy this greed, it will absorb moist- 
ure from the tissues with which it comes in contact, 
as well as from- their lubricating juices. The enlarge- 
ment of the blood-vessels and their permanent con- 
gestion must interfere with the filtering action of 
the membrane. In time, all the membranes become 
dry, thickened, and hardened ; they then shrink upon 
the sensitive nerve, or stiffen the joint, or enfeeble 
the muscle. The function of these membranes being 
deranged, they will not furnish the organs with per- 
fected material, and the clogged pores will no longer 
filter their natural fiuids. Every organ in the body 
will feel this change. 

Effect upon the Blood.* — From the stomach, alco- 
hol passes directly into the circulation, and so, in a 
few minutes, is swept through the entire system. 
If it be present in sufficient amount and strength, 
its eager desire for water will lead it to absorb moist- 
ure from the red corpuscles, causing them to shrink, 
change their form, harden, and lose some of their 
ability to carry oxygen ; it may even make them 
adhere in masses, and so hinder their passage through 
the tiny capillaries. — Richaedsoi^. 

* Alcohol acts upon the oxygen-carrier, the coloring matter of the red 
corpuscles, causing it to settle in one part of the globule, or even to leave 
the corpuscle, and deposit itself in other elements of the blood. Thus the 
red corpuscle may become colorless, distorted, shrunken, and even entirely 
broken up.— Dr. Gt. B. Haeriman. 



133.] EFFECT UPON THE LUNGS. 145 

With most persons who indulge freely in alcoholic 
drinks, the blood is thin, the avidity of alcohol for 
water causing the burning thirst so familiar to all 
drinkers, and hence the use of enormous quantities 
of water, oftener of beer, which unnaturally dilutes 
the blood. The blood then easily flows from a 
wound, and renders an accident or surgical operation 
very dangerous. 

When the blood tends, as in other cases of an ex- 
cessive use of spirits, to coagulate in the capillaries,* 
there is a liability of an obstruction to the flow of 
the vital current through the heart, liver^ lungs, etc., 
that may cause disease, and in the brain may lay 
the foundation of paralysis, or, in extreme cases, of 
apoplexy. 

Wherever the alcoholized blood goes through the 
body, it bathes the delicate cells with an irritating 
narcotic poison, instead of a bland, nutritious sub- 
stance. 

Effect upon the Lungs. — Here we can see how 
certainly the presence of alcohol interferes with the 
red corpuscles in their task of carrying oxygen. 
'' Even so small a quantity as one part of alcohol to 

* The blood is rendered unduly tliin, or is coagulated, according to the 
amount of alcohol that is carried into the circulatory system. "The spirit 
may fix the water with the fibrin, and thus destroy the power of coagula- 
tion ; or it may extract the water so determinately as to in'oduce coagula- 
tion. This explains why, in acute cases of poisoning bv alcohol, the blood 
is sometimes found quite fluid, at other tin\cs lu-mly coagulated in the 
vessels."— B. W. Richardson. 

Kecldess persons have sometimes dnink a lai'ge quantity of liquor t'oT- a 
wager, and, as the result of theii- folly, have diinl instantly. The wiuile o\' the 
blood ii\ the heart having coagulatetl, the circulation was stoppoil, and death 
inevitably ensued. 



146 THE CIRCULATION". [133,134. 

five hundred of the blood wih materially check the 
absorption of oxygen in the lungs." 

The cells, unable to take up oxygen, retain their 
carbonic-acid gas, and so return from the lungs, car- 
rying back, to poison the system, the refuse matter 
the body has sought to throw off. Thus the lungs 
no longer furnish properly oxygenized blood. 

The rapid stroke of the heart, already spoken of, 
is followed by a corresponding quickening of the 
respiration. The flush of the cheek is repeated in 
the reddened mucous membrane lining the lungs. 

When this " Vascular enlargement " becomes per- 
manent, and the highly-albuminous membrane of the 
air-cells is hardened and thickened as well as con- 
gested, the Osmose of the gases to and fro through 
its pores can no longer be prompt and free as before. 
Even when the effect ]Dasses off in a few days after 
the occasional indulgence, there has been, during 
that time, a diminished supply of the life-giving 
oxygen furnished to the system ; weakness follows, 
and, in the case of hard drinkers, there is a marked 
liability to epidemics."^' 

Physicians tell us, also, that there is a peculiar 
form of consumption known as Alcoholic Phthisis 
caused by long -continued and excessive use of 

* There is no doubt that alcohol alters and impairs tissues so that 
they are more prone to disease. -De. Gt. K. Sabine. A volume of sta- 
tistics could be filled with quotations like the following : " Mr. Huber, who 
saw in one town in Russia two thousand one hundred and sixty persons 
perish with the cholera in twenty days, said : ' It is a most remarkable cir- 
cumstance that persons given to drink have been swept away like flies. In 
Tiflis, with twenty thousand inhabitants, every drunkard has fallen,— all 
are dead, not one remaining." 



134,135.] PKACTICAL QUESTIONS. 147 

liquor. It generally attacks those whose splendid 
physique has enabled them to " drink deep " with 
apparent impunity. This type of consumption ap- 
pears late in life and is considered incurable. Severe 
cases of pneumonia are also generally fatal with 
inebriates.* 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 

1. Why does a dry, cold atmosphere favorably affect catarrh? 

2. Why should we put on extra covering. when we lie down to sleep? 

3. Is it well to throw off our coats or shawls when we come in heated 
from a long walk? 

4. Why are close-fitting collars or neck-ties injurious? 

5. Which side of the heart is the more liable to inflammation? 

6. What gives the toper his red nose? 

7. Why does not the arm die when the surgeon ties the principal 
artery leading to it? 

8. When a fowl is angry, why does its comb redden? 

9. Why does a fat man endure cold better than a lean one? 

10. Why does one become thin during a long sickness? 

11. AVhat would you do if you should come home "wet to the skin''? 

12. When the cold air strikes the face, why does it first blanch and 
then flush? 

13. What must be the effect of tight lacing upon the circulation of the 
blood ? 

14. Do you know the position of the large arteries in the limbs, so that 
in case of accident you could stop the flow of blood? 

15. When a person is said to be good-hearted, is it a physical ti-uth? 

16. Why does a hot foot-bath relieve the headache? 

17. Why does the body of a drowned or strangled person turn blue? 

18. What are the little "kernels" in the arm-pits? 

19. When we are excessively warm, would the thermometer show any 
rise of temperature in the body? 

20. What forces besides that of the lieart aid in propolliiig the blood? 

21. Why can the pulse be best felt in the wrist? 

22. Why are starving people exceedingly sensitive to any jar? 

23. Why will friction, an application oi' horso-i'adish leaves, or a blister, 
relieve internal congestion ? 

24. Why are students very liable to cold feet? 



* The Inlliionoe of Alcohol is continuod in the ihaptor on l)i!^>i!tion. 



148 THE CIRCULATION. [135, 136. 

25. Is the proverb that "'blood is thicker than crater" literally true? 

26. What is the effect Tipon the circulatioii of '• holding the breath"? 

27. "Wbdch side of the heart is the stronger? 

28. How is the heart itself nourished?* 

29. Doe^ any venous blood reach the heart without coming through the 
venae cavae? 

30. What would you do, in the absence of a surgeon, in the case of a 
severe wound? (See p. 258.) 

31. AVhat would you do in the case of a fever? (See p. 263.) 

32. What is the most injurious effect of alcohol upon the blood? 

33. Are our bodies the same from day to day? 

34. Show how life comes by death. 

35. Is not the truth just stated as applicable to moral and intellectual, 
as to physical life ? 

36. What vein begins an4 ends with capillaries ? Am. The portal vein 
commences with capillaries in the digestive organs, and ends with the 
same Idnd of vessels in the liver. (See p. 166.) 

37. By what process is alcohol always formed? Does it exist in nature? 

38. What percentage of alcohol is contained in the different kinds of 
liquor ? 

39. Does cider possess the same intoxicating principle as brandy? 

40. Describe the general properties of alcohol. 

41. Show that alcohol is a narcotic poison. 

42. If alcohol is not a stimulant, how does it cause the heart to over- 
work ? 

43. Why is the sMn of a drunkard always red and blotched? 

44. What danger is there in occasionally using alcoholic drinks? 

45. What is meant by a fatty degeneration of the heart? 

46. What keeps the blood in circulation between the beats of the 
heart ? 

47. What is the office of the capillaries? (See note, p. 373.) 

48. Does alcohol interfere with this function? 

49. How does alcohol interfere with the regular office of the mem- 
branes? 

50. How does it check the process of oxidation? 



* The coronary artery, springing- from the aorta just after its origin, carries blood 
to the muscular walls of the heart : the venous blood comes back through the coronary 
veins, and empties directly into the right auricle. 



VI. 



Digestion and Food 



"A MAN puts some ashes in a hill of corn and thereby doubles its 
yield. Then he says, 'My ashes have I turned into corn.' Weak from 
his labor, he eats of his corn, and new life comes to him. Again, he says, 
'I have changed my corn into a man.' This also he feels to be the 
truth. 

"It is the problem of the body, remember, that we are discussing. A 
man is more than the body; to confound the body and the man is worse 
than confounding the body and the clothing."— John Darby. 



ANALYSIS OF DIGESTION AND FOOD. 



C 1. Wht We ]SiEED Food. 

2. What Food Does. 

f 1. Nitrogenous. 

3. Kinds of Food -( 2. Carbonaceous. 

[ 3. Minerals. 

4. One Kind is Insufficient. 



( a. T?)€ Sugars. 
1 b. The Fats. 



5. Object of Digestion. 



6. PROCEr^s of Digestion. 



f — General Description. 

1. Mastication and In- l 
salivation '( 



The Saliva 
Pivcess 0, 



2. Gastric Digestion . . 



Intestinal Digestion, "j 



T/ie Stomach. 
The Gastric Juice. 
The Chyme. 

- Description, 

a. The Bile. 
I b. The Pancreatic .Jvice. 
^ c. TJie Small Intestine. 



/ c. 

r ■ 



Absorption 

Complexity of the Process of Digestion. 

Length of Time required. 



By the Veins, 
the Lacteals. 



b. By 



8. Hygiene. 



Value of diBEerent 
kinds of Food. 



3. The Stimulants. 



r a. Beef. 
I b. Mutton. 

c. Lamb. ' 

d. Poi^Tc. 
1 e. Fish. 

I f. MiUc. 
\ g. Cheese. 
L h. Fggs, etc. 

i a. Coffee. 

b. Tea. 
I c. Chocolate. 



4. Cooking of Food. 

5. Eapid Eating, 

6. Quantitv and Quality of Food, 
r. When Food should be taken. 

8. How Food should be taken. 

9. Need of a Variety. 



9. The Wonders of Digestion. 



10. Diseases. 



r . 



11. Alcoholic Drinks! 
AND Narcotics. 1 



l^ 



1. Dvspepsia. 

2. The Mumps. 

1. Is Alcohol a Food ? 

2. Effect upon the Digestion. 

3. Effect upon the Liver. 

4. Effect upon the Kidneys. 

5. Does Alcohol impart heat ? 

fi. D' es Alcohol impart strength ? 

7. The Effect upon the Waste of the Body. 

8. Alcohol creates a progressive appetite for 

self. 
i, 9. Law of Heredity. 



i 



DIGESTION AND FOOD. 

Why We Need Food. — We have learned that our 
bodies are constantly giving off waste matter — the 
products of the fire, or oxidation, as the chemist 
terms the change going on within us (Note, p. 107). 
A man without food will starve to death in a few 
days, i. e., the oxygen will have consumed all the 
available flesh of his body.* To replace the daily 
outgo, we need about two and a quarter pounds of 
food, and three pints of drink, f 

* The stories current in the newspapers of persons who live for years 
without food, are, of course, vmtrue. The case of the Welsh Pasting Girl, 
which excited general interest throughout Great Britain, and was exten- 
sively copied in our own press, is in point. She had succeeded in deceiving 
not only the public, but, as some claim, her own parents. At last a strict 
watch was set by day and night, precluding the possibility of her receiving 
any food except at the hands of the committee, from whom she steadily 
refused it. In a few days she died from actual starvation. The youth of 
the girl, the apparent honesty of the parents, and the tragical sequel, make 
it one of the most remarkable cases of the kind on record. 

+ Every cell in the tissues is full of matter ready to set free at call its 
stored-up energy— derived from the meat, bread, and vegetables we have 
eaten. This energy will pass off quietly when the organs arc in compara- 
tive rest, but violently when the miiscles contract vn.X\\ force. When we 
send an order through a nerve to any part of the body, a series of tiny 
explosions run the entire length of the nerve, just as fire runs through u 
train of gunpowder. The miTscle receives the stin^ulus, and, contiin'ting. 
liberates its energy. The cells of nerve or muscle, whose contents have 
thus exploded, as it were, are useless, and must bo carried t»tT by the bloiMl, 
Just as ashes must bo swept from the hearth, and now fuel bo supplied io 
keep up a fire. 



152 DIGESTIOX AXD FOOD. 



[139, 140. 



Including the eight hundred pounds of ox^^gen 
taken from the air, a man uses in a year about a ton 
and a half of material.* Yet during this entire 
time his weight may have been nearly uniform. f 
Our bodies are but molds, in which a certain quan- 
tity of matter, checked for a time on its ceaseless 
round, receives a definite form. They may be 
likened, says Huxley, to an eddy in the river, which 
retains its shape for awhile, yet every instant each 
particle of water is changing. 

What Food Does.— TVe make no force ourselves. 
We can only use that which nature provides for 
us.t All our strength comes from the food we eat. 
Food is force — that is, it contains a latent power 



* The following is the daily ration of a United States soldier. It is said 
to be the most generoxis in the world : 

Bread or flour 22 OTinces. 

Fresh or salt beef (or pork or bacon, 12 oz.) . . 20 " 
Potatoes (three times per week) 16 " 



Eice 



1.6 



Coffee (or tea. 0.24 oz.) 1.6 " 

Sugar 2.4 " 

Seans 0.64 giU. 

Vinegar 0.32 " 

Salt 0.16 " 

t If. however, he were kept on the scale-pan of a sensitive balance, he 
would find that his weight is constantly changing, increasing with each 
meal, and then gradually decreasing. 

t We draw from Xature at once our substance, and the force by which 
we operate upon her ; being, so far, parts of her great system, immersed in 
it for a short time and to a small extent. Enfolding us, as it were, within 
her arms, Xature lends us her forces to expend ; we receive them, and pass 
them on. gi^T.ng them the impress of our will, and bending them to otit 

designs, for a little while ; and then Yes : then it is all one. The great 

procession pauses not, nor flags a moment, for our fall. The powers which 
Xature lent to us she resumes to herself, or lends, it may be, to another ; 
the use which we have made of them, or might have made and did not, 
is written in her book tov&VGT.— Health and its Conditiom. 



140,141.] KINDS OF FOOD NEEDED. 153 

which it gives up when it is decomposed.* Oxygen 
is the magic key which unlocks for our use this hid- 
den store, t Putting food into our bodies is hke 
placing a tense spring within a watch ; every motion 
of the body is only a new direction given to this 
food-force, as every movement of the hand on the 
dial is but the manifestation of the power of the 
bent spring in the watch. We use the pent-up ener- 
gies of meat, bread, and vegetables which are placed 
at our service, and transfer them to a higher theater 
of action. J 

Kinds of Food Needed. — From what has been 
said it is clear that, in order to produce heat and 
force, we need something that will burn, i.e., with 
which oxygen can combine. Experiment has proved 
that to build up every organ, and keep the body 

* This force is chemical affinity. It binds together the molecules wliicli 
compose the food we eat. When oxygen tears the molecules to pieces and 
makes them up into smaller ones, the force is set free. As we shall learn 
in Physics, it can be turned into heat, muscular motion, electricity, etc. 
The principle that the different kinds of force can be changed into one 
another without loss, is called the Conservation of Enei-gy, and is one of 
the grandest discoveries of modern science.— Poiiular Physics., pages 35, 39, 
278. 

t We have spoken of the mystery that envelops the process of the con- 
version of food force into muscular-force (note, p. 107). All physiologists 
agree that muscular power has its soiirce in the chemical decomposition of 
certain substances whereby their potential energy is released. Probably 
some of the food undergoes this chemical change before it passes out of 
the alimentary canal ; possibly some is broken up by the oxygen while it is 
being swept along by the blood ; but, probably by far the largest part is 
converted into the various tissues of the body, and finally becomes a waste 
product only after there takes place in the tissue itself that chemical dis- 
organization that sets free its stored-up power.— Postkk's Pfiys^iologij. 

t It is a grand thought that wo can thus transform what is cotnmon 
and gross into the refined and spiritual; that oiit of waving wheat, wasting 
flesh, running water, and dead minerals, wo can realize the glorious p»,>ssi- 
bilities of human life. 



154 DIGESTION AND FOOD. [141,142. 

in the best condition, we require three kinds of 
food. 

1. Nitrogenous Food. — As nitrogen is a prominent 
constituent of tlie tissues of the body, food which 
contains it is therefore necessary to their growth 
and repair.* The most common forms are whites of 
eggs— which are nearly pure albumen ; casein — the 
chief constituent of cheese ; lean meat ; and gluten 
— the viscid substance which gives tenacity to dough. 
Bodies having a great deal of nitrogen readily ox- 
idize. Hence the peculiar character of the quick- 
changing, force-exciting muscle. 

2. Carbonaceous Food — i.e., food containing much 
carbon — consists of two kinds, viz., the sugars, and 
the fats. 

(1) TJie sugars contain hydrogen and oxygen in 
the proportion to form water, and about the same 
amount of carbon. They may, therefore, be consid- 
ered as water, with carbon diffused through it. In 
digestion, starch and gum are changed to sugar, and 
so are ranked with this class. 

(2) TJie fats are like the sugars in composition, 
but contain less oxygen, and not in the proportion 
to form water. They combine with more oxygen in 
burning, and so give off more heat. 

The non-nitrogenous elements of the food have, 
however, other uses than to develop heat.f Fat is 

* Since this kind of food closely resembles albumen, it is sometimes 
called Albuminous. The term Proteid is also used. 

t The heat they produce in burning may be turned into motion of the 
muscles, according to the principle of the Conservation of Energy (p. 153, 
note) ; while all the structures of the body in their oxidation develop heat. 



142, 143.] THREE KINDS OF FOOD. 155 

essential to the assimilation of the food, while sugar 
and starch aid in digestion and may be converted 
into fat.* Fat and carbonaceous material both enter 
into the composition of the various tissues, and 
when, by the breaking-up of the contractile sub- 
stance of the muscle, their latent energy is set free, 
they become the source of muscular force, as well 
as heat. While the tendency of the albuminous 
food is to excite chemical action, and hence the 
release of energy, the fats and carbonaceous food 
may be laid up in the body to serve as a storehouse 
of energy to supply future needs. 

3. Mineral Matters. — Food should contain water, 
and certain common minerals, such as iron,t sul- 
phur, magnesia, phosphorus, salt, and potash. About 
three pints of water are needed daily to dissolve the 
food and carry it through the circulation, to float 
off waste matter, to lubricate the tissues, and by 
evaporation to cool the system (see p. 317). It also 
enters largely into the composition of the body. A 
man weighing one hundred and fifty-four pounds 
contains one hundred pounds of water, about twelve 
gallons — enough, if rightly arranged, to drown him.| 

Iron goes to the blood disks ; lime combines with 



* In Turkey, the ladies of the harem are fed on honey and thick gmel, 
to make flesh, which is considered to enliance their beauty. The neg:roes 
on tho sugar plantations of the South always grow fat during the sugar- 
making season. 

t While the body can build up a solid from liquid materials on the one 
hand, on the other it can pour iron through its veins and roduoe the haixi- 
ost textures to blood.— IIinton. 

X It is said that Blunu>iibai'h had a poi't'oct muinniy o\' an adult Tono- 
riflian, Nvliich witl\ the viscera weighed only seveu and a half pounds. 



156 DIGESTION AND FOOD. [143, 144. 

phosphoric and carbonic acids to give sohdity to the 
bones and teeth ; phosphorus is essential to the ac- 
tivity of the brain. Salt is necessary to the secre- 
tion of some of the digestive fluids, and also to aid 
in working off from the system its waste products. 
These A^arious minerals, except iron — sometimes 
given as a medicine, and salt — universally used as a 
condiment,* are contained in small, but sufficient 
quantities in meat, bread, and vegetables. 

One Kind of Food is Insufficient^A person fed 
on starch alone, would die. It would be a clear case 
of nitrogen starvation. On the other hand, as nitrog- 
enous food contains carbon, the elements of water, 
and various mineral matters, life could be supported 

* Animals will travel long distances to obtain salt. Men will barter 
gold for it ; indeed, among the Gallas and on the coast of Sierra Leone, 
brothers will sell their sisters, husbands their wives, and parents their 
children for salt. In the district of Accra, on the gold coast of Africa, a 
handful of salt is the most valuable thing upon earth after gold, and will 
purchase a slave. Mungo Park tells us that with the Mandingoes and Bam- 
baras the use of salt is such a luxury that to say of a man " he flavors his 
food with salt," it is to imply that he is rich ; and children will suck a 
piece of rock-salt as if it were sugar. No stronger mark of respect or affec- 
tion can be shown in Muscovy, than the sending of salt from the tables of 
the rich to their poorer friends. In the book of Leviticus it is expressly 
commanded as one of the ordinances of Moses, that every oblation of meat 
upon the altar shall be seasoned with salt, without lacking ; and hence it 
is caUed the Salt of the Covenant of Grod. The Greeks and Romans also 
used salt in their sacrificial cakes ; and it is still used in the services of the 
Latin church— the "■ parva mica,'" or pinch of salt, being in the ceremony of 
baptism, put into the child's mouth, while the priest says, "Receive the 
salt of wisdom, and may it be a propitiation to thee for euernal life." 
Every- where and almost always, indeed, it has been regarded as emblemat- 
ical of wisdom, wit, and immortality. To taste a man's salt, was to be 
bound by the rites of hospitality ; and no oath was more solemn than that 
which was sworn upon bread and salt. To sprinkle the meat with salt was 
to drive away the devil, and to this day, nothing is more unlucky than to 
spill the salt.— Letheby, On Food. 



144, 145.J 



THE OBJECT OF DIGESTION. 



157 



EiG. 45. 



on that alone. But such a prodigious quantity of 
lean meat, for example, would be required to furnish 
the other elements, that not 
only would it be very ex- 
pensive, but it is likely that 
after a time the labor of di- 
gestion would be too onerous, 
and the system would give 
up the task in despair. The 
need of a diet containing 
both nitrogenous and carbo- 
naceous elements is shown 
in the fact that even in the 
tropical regions oil is relished 
as a dressing upon salad. 
Instinct every-where suggests 
the blending. Butter is used 
with bread ; rice is boiled 
with milk ; cheese is eaten 
with maccaroni, and beans 
are baked with pork. 

The Object of Digestion. 
— If our food were cast di- 
rectly into the blood, it could 
not be used. For example, 
although the chemist can not 
see wherein the albumen oi 
the albumen of the blood, yet if it be injected into 
the veins it is unavailabk^ for the purposes required, 
and is thrown out again. In the eoursi^ of digestion 
the food is modilied in various wavs wherebv it is 




The Btomadi ami Intestines. 1, 
stomach ; 2, dt/odcm//n ; 3, s/na/l in- 
testine ; 4, termination of the Utitm ; 
5, coicum ; 6, rennij'onn apptndix ; 
7, ascending colon ; 8, tramvivse co 
Ion ; 9, descending colon ; 10. sig- 
moid flexure of the colon ; 11, net urn; 
12, spleen— a gland whose action is 
not It nderst(X)d .—lAiWY"^ Anatomy. 



the 



eo'o- ( 



lilTers i\\ 



'01 n 



158 DIGESTION AND FOOD. [145,146. 

fitted for the use of the body, into which it is finally 
incorporated. We call this change of food into flesh 
assimilation, a name for a work done solely by the 
vital organs, and so mysterious in its nature that 
the wisest physiologist gets only glimpses here and 
there of its operations. 

The General Plan of Digestion. — Nature has pro- 
vided for this purpose an entire laboratory, furnished 
with a chemist's outfit of knives, mortars, baths, 
chemicals, filters, etc. The food is (1) chewed, mixed 
with the saliva in the mouth, and swallowed ; (2) it 
is acted upon by the gastric juice in the stomach ; 
(3) it is passed into the intestines, where it receives 
the bile, pancreatic juice, and other liquids which 
completely dissolve it ; * (-i) the nourishing part is 
absorbed in the stomach and intestines, and thence 
thrown into the blood-vessels, whence it is whirled 
through the body by the torrent of the circulation. 
These processes take place within the alimentary 
canal, a narrow tortuous tube which commences at 
the mouth, and is about thirty feet long.f 

* Digestion, says Berzelius, is a process of rinsing. The digestive ap- 
paratus secretes, and again absorbs witli the food which it has dissolved, 
not less than three gallons of liquid per day.— Barnard, Bidder, Schmidt, 
and others. 

t The digestive apparatus is lined with mucous membrane that pos- 
sesses functions similar to those of the outer skin. It absorbs certain sub- 
stances and rejects waste matter. On account of this close connection be- 
tween the inner and the outer skin, it is not surprising to find that in the 
lowest anim.als digestion is performed by means of the external sldn. The 
amseba, which is merely a gelatinous mass, when it takes its food, extem- 
porizes a stomach for the occasion. It simply wraps itself around the 
morsel, and, like an animated apple-dumpling with the apple for food and 
the crust for animal, goes on with the process until the operation is com- 
pleted, when it unrolls itself again and lets the indigestible residue escape. 



140, 147.] 



THE SALIVA 



150 



Fig. 46. 



I. Mastication and Insalivation. — 1. The Saliva.— 

The food while being cut and ground by the teeth 
is mixed with the saliva. This is a thin, colorless, 
frothy, slightly alkaline liquid, secreted* by the mu- 
cous membrane lining 
the mouth, and by 
three pairs of salivary 
glands (parotid, sub- 
maxillary, and sublin- 
gual) opening into the 
mouth through ducts, 
or tubes. The amount 
varies, but on the av- 
erage is about three 
pounds per day, and 
in health is always 

sufficient to keep the mouth moist. f It softens and 
dissolves the food, and thus enables us to get the 
flavor or taste of what we eat. It contains a pe- 
culiar organic principle called ptijaUn, | which, acting 




The Parotid— one of the salivary glands. 



The common hydra of otir brooks can live when turned inside out. like a 
glove ; either side serving for skin or stomach, as necessity requires. 

* By secretion is meant merely a separation or picking out from the 
blood. 

t The presence and often the thought of food will " make one's nunith 
water." Fear checks the flow of saliva, and hence the East Indians some- 
times attempt to detect theft by making those who are suspected chew 
rice. The person from whom it comes out driest is adjudged the thief. 

X One part of ptyalin will convert eight thousand parts of starch into 
sugar.— MiALiiE. 

The saliva has no chemical action on the fats or the allniminous bodies. 
Its frothiness enables it to carry oxygen into the stomach, and this is 
thought to be of service. The action of the ptyalin eominenees with great 
promptness, and sugar has boon detected, it is said, within half a minute 
after the starch was placed in the mouth. The pi'ocess. however, is not 
finished there, but continnes aftin- reaeliimj: the stomach.— Vai.kntix. The 



160 DIGESTION AND FOOD. [147,149. 

upon the starch of the food, changes it into glucose 
or grape-sugar. 

2. The Process of SwaUoiviiig.— The food thus 
finely pulverized, softened, and so lubricated by the 
viscid saliva as to prevent friction as it passes over 
the delicate membranes, is conveyed by the tongue 
and cheek to the back of the mouth. The soft 
palate lifts to close the nasal opening ; the epiglottis 
shuts down, and along this bridge the food is borne, 
without danger of falling into the windpipe or es- 
caping into the nose. The muscular bands of the 
throat now seize it and take it beyond our control. 
The fibers of the oesophagus contract above, while 
they are lax below, and convey the food by a worm- 
like motion into the stomach.* 

II. Gastric Dig-estion. — 1. The Stomach is an ir- 
regular expansion of the digestive tube. Its shape 
has been compared to that of a bagpipe. It holds 
about three pints, though it is susceptible of some 
distension. It is composed of an inner, mucous 
membrane, which secretes the digestive fluids ; an 
outer, smooth, well-lubricated serous one, which pre- 
vents friction, and between them a stout, muscular 
coat. The last consists of two principal layers of 
longitudinal and circular fibers. When these con- 
tract; they produce a peculiar churning motion, 
called the 2^^''''"^^'l^(^^tic [i^eri, round ; stall ein^ to ar- 

saliva tlius prepares a small portion of food for absorption at once, and so 
insures at the very beginning of the operation of digestion a supply of 
force-producing material for the immediate use of the systera. 

* We can observe the peculiar motion of the oesophagus by watching a 
horse's neck when he is drinking. 



148.] 



1)IA0RAM. 



161 



Pig. 4*; 






V^xxoVXJktW^. 



> KWoXw. 




—2 Xt^i^ 



-^-^3 \\\c\\we. 



.J^s::^!'::,!:^!':^,^^;:::: ^r:;;:;;'- -— ••"- "-- 



162 DIGESTION AND FOOD. [14.9,156. 

range) movement, which thoroughly mixes the con- 
tents of the stomach. At the farther end, the mus- 
cular fibers contract and form a gate-way, the pylorus 
(a gate), as it is called, which carefully guards the 
exit, and allows no food to pass from the stomach 
until properly prepared.* 

2. The Gastric Juice. — The lining of the stomach 
is soft, velvety, and of a pinkish hue ; but, as soon 
as food is admitted, the blood-vessels fill, the surface 
becomes of a bright red, and soon there exudes from 
the gastric glands a thin, colorless fluid — the gastric 
juice. (See p. 319.) This is secreted to the amount 
of twelve pounds per day.f Its acidit}^ is probably 
due to muriatic or lactic acid— the acid of sour milk. 
It contains a peculiar organic principle Q,R\\e(i pepsin % 
{peptein, to digest), which acts as a ferment to pro- 
duce changes in the food, without being itself modi- 
fied. 

The fiow of gastric juice is influenced by various 
circumstances. Cold water checks it for a time, and 
ice for a longer period. Anger, fatigue, and anxiety 
delay and even suspend the secretion. The gastric 



* With a wise discretion, however, it opens for buttons, coins, etc., 
swallowed by accident; and when we overload the stomach, it seems to be- 
come w^eary of constantly denying egress, and, finally, giving up in despair, 
lets every thing through. 

t The amount secreted by a healthy adult is variously estimated from 
five to thirty-seven pounds. As it is re-absorbed by the blood, there is no 
loss. 

X Pepsin is prepared and sold as an article of commerce. The best is 
said to be made from the stomachs of young, healthy pigs, which, just be- 
fore being killed, are excited with savory food that they are not allowed 
to eat. One grain is siiificient to dissolve eight hundred grains of coagu- 
lated white of egg. A temperature of 130" renders pepsin inert. 



150, 151.] 



INTESTINAL DIGESTION, 



163 



Fig. 48. 



juice has no effect on the fats or the sugars of the 
food ; its influence being mainly confined to the 
albuminous bodies, which it so changes that they 
become soluble in water.* 

The food, reduced by the action of the gastric 
juice to a grayish, soupy mass, called chyme (kime), 
escapes through that jeal- 
ously-guarded door, the 
pylorus. 

III. Intestinal Diges- 
tion. — The structure of the 
intestines is like that of 
the stomach. There is 
the same outer, smooth, 
serous membrane (peri- 
toneum) to prevent fric- 
tion the lining; of mucous inore Jdghhj magnified sections of the cells of 
' ^ a duodenal gland. 

membrane to secrete the 

digestive fluids, and the muscular coating to push 
the food forward. The intestines are divided into 
the sinall, and the large. The first pai*t of the for- 
mer opens out of the stomach, and is called the 
du-o-de'-nuiii, as its length is equal to the breadth of 
twelve fingers. Here the chyme is acted upon b}' 
the bile, and the pancreatic juice. 







A vertical Section of the Duodenum^ highly 
magnified. 1, a fold-like villus ; 2, epithe- 
lium., or cuticle ; 3, wijices of intestinal 
glands ; 5, orifice of duodenal glands ; 4, 7, 



* Tho question is often asked why the stomach itseh" is not digi^sted by 
tho gfasti-ic juice, since it belongs to the albuminous substances. Some have 
assigned as the probable reason that life pi-otccts that organ, and assert 
that living tissues can not be digested; but tin* fallacy of this has been 
clearly shown by experiments that have bccu made with living tissues in 
the course of scientific research. The latest opinion is that the blood which 
circulates so freely through \A\o vessels of the lininn" of \\\o stomach, being 
alkaline, protcH'ts the tissue against the acidity o\' the gastric juice. 



164: 



DIGESTION AND FOOD, 



[151, 152. 



1. Tlie Bile is secreted by the liver. This gland 
weighs about four pounds, and is the largest in the 
body. It is located on the right side, below the dia- 
phragm. The bile is of a dark, golden color, and 

Fig. 49. 





The Mucous Membrane of the Ilium, highly magnified. 1, cellular struchire of the 
epithelium, or outer layer ; 2, a vein ; 3, fibrous layer ; 4, villi covered with epithe- 
lium ; 5, a villus in section, sJwiving its lining of epithelium, with its blood-vessels 
and lymphatics ; 6, a villus yarticdly uncovered ; 7, a villus stripped of its ejAthelium ; 
8, lymphatics or lacteals ; 9, onflces of the glands opening between the villi; 10, 11, 
12, glands ; 13, capillaries surrounding the orifices of the gland. 

bitter taste. About three pounds are secreted per 
day. When not needed for digestion, it is stored in 
the gall cyst.* Its action on the food, though not 
fully understood, is necessary to life.f 

* A gall-bladder can be obtained from a butcher, and tbe contents kept 
in a bottle for examination, 

+ Tbe bile is produced, tinlike all tbe other animal secretions, from 
venous blood ; that is, the already contaminated blood of the portal vein. 
Its complete suppression produces symptoms of poisoning analogous to 
those which follow the stoppage of respiration, and the patient dies, 



151-153.] ABSORPTION. 165 

2. The Pancreatic Juice is a secretion of the 
pancreas, or "sweet-bread" — a gland nearly as large 
as the hand, lying behind the stomach. It is alka- 
line, and contains a ferment called trypsin. This 
juice has the power of changing starch to sugar. 
Its main work, however, is in breaking up the glob- 
ules of fat into myriads of minute particles, that 
mix freely with water, and remain suspended in it 
like butter in new milk. The whole mass now as- 
sumes a milky look, whence it is termed chyle (kiie), 
and passes on to the small intestine.* 

3. The Small Intestine is an intricately-folded 
tube, about twenty feet long, and from an inch to 
an inch and one half in diameter. As the chyle 
passes through this tortuous channel, it receives 
along the entire route secretions which seem to com- 
bine the action of all the previous ones — starch, fat, 
and albumen being equally affected. 

IV. Absorption is performed in two ways, by the 
veins, and the lacteals. (1.) The A^eins in tne stom- 



usually in a comatose condition, at the end of ten or twelve days.— Dalton. 
The alkaline bile neutralizes the acid contents of the stomach as they flow 
into the dnodennm, and thus prepares the way for the pancreatic juice. 
It has also a slight emulsifying power (note, p. 167). 

* It is curious to observe that while the gastric juice is decidedly acid, 
the fluids' with which the food next comes into contact are alkaline. It is 
thus submitted to the operation alternately of alkaline, acid, and again of 
alkaline secretions. In the herbivora there is also a second acid juice. 
The reason of these alternations is not known, but it can hardly be doubted 
that they serve to make the digestion of the food more perfect. Ami 
although the solvent power of the gastric juice is placed in abeyance when 
its acidity is neutralized by the alkaline fluids, yet it appeai-s to bo the 
case here, as in respect to the saliva, that effects are pivduced by the 
mixture of the various secretions which are poured together ii\to the di- 
gestive tube, that would not rcsiilt from either alone.— IIintox. 



166 - digestio:n^ akd food. [153,154. 

ach* immediately begin to take up the water, salt, 
grape-sugar, and other substances that need no 
special preparation. The starch and the albuminous 
bodies are also absorbed as they are properly digested, 
and this process continues along the whole length 
of the alimentary canal. In the small intestine, there 
is a multitude of tiny projections {villi) from the 
folds of the mucous membrane, more than seven 
thousand to the square inch, giving it a soft, velvety 
look. These little rootlets, reaching out into the 
milky fluid, drink into their minute blood-vessels the 
nutritious part of every sort of food. (2.) The lac- 
teals f (p. 12 6), a set of vessels starting in the villi 
side by side with the veins, absorb the principal part 
of the fat. They convey the chyle through the lym- 
phatics and the thoracic duct (Fig. 1:3) to the A^eins, 
and so within the sweep of the circulation. 

The Portal Vein | carries to the liver the food 
absorbed by the veins of the stomach and the villi 
of the intestines. On the Avay, it is greatly modified 
by the action of the blood itself. In the cells of the 
liver, it undergoes as mysterious a process as that 
performed by the lymphatic glands, and is then cast 

* The veins -and tlie lacteals are separated from the food by a thin, 
moist membrane, through the pores of which the fluid-food rapidly passes, in 
accordance with a beautiful law ("Popular Physics," p. 53) called the Osmose 
of liquids. If two liquids of different densities are separated by an animal 
membrane, they will mix with considerable force. There is a similar law 
regulating the interchange of gases through a porous partition, in obedience 
to which the carbonic acid of the blood, and the oxygen of the lungs, are 
exchanged through the thin membrane of the air-cells. 

t Prom lac^ milk, because of the milky look given to their contents by 
the chyle. 

So named because it enters the liver by a sort of gate-way. 



154,155.] THE COMPLEXITY. 167 

into the circulation.* The food, potent with force, 
is now buried in that river of life from which the 
body springs momentarily afresh. 

The Complexity of the process of digestion, as 
compared with the simplicity of respiration and cir- 
culation, is very marked. The mechanical operation 
of mastication ; the lubrication of the food by mu- 
cus ; the provision for the security of the respiratory 
organs ; the grasping by the muscles of the throat ; 
the churning movement of the stomach ; the guard- 
ianship of the pylorus ; the timely introduction by 
safe and protected channels of the saliva, the gastric 
juice, the bile, the pancreatic juice, and the intestinal 
fluids, each with its special adaptation ; the curious 
peristaltic motion of the intestines ; the twofold ab- 
sorption by the veins and the lacteals ; the final 
transformation in the lymphatics, the portal vein, 
and the liver, — all these present a complexity of de- 
tail, the necessity of which can be explained only 
when we reflect upon the variety of the substances 
we use for food, and the importance of its thorough 
preparation before it is allow^ed to enter the blood. 

The Length of Time Required for digesting a 
full meal is from two to four hours. It varies Avith 
the kind of food, state of the system, perfectic^i of 
mastication, etc. In the cek4)rated observations made 

* In these colls, the sugar is changed into a kind of stai'ch called 
glycogei). This is insolnble, and so is sk>red up in the liver, and even in the 
substance of the muscles, until it is needed by the body, when it is once 
more converted into soluble sugar and taken up. by the circulation. The 
liver also changes the waste and surplus albunnnous matter ii\to bile, and 
into urea and uric acid— the forms in which nitrogenized waste is oxcivted 
by the kidneys. 



168 ■ DIGESTION AND FOOD. [155. 

upon Alexis St. Martin* by Dr. Beaumont, his stom- 
ach was found empty in two and a half hours after 
a meal of roast turkey, potatoes, and bread. Pigs' 
feet and boiled rice were disposed of in an hour. 
Fresh, sweet apples took one and a half hours ; 
boiled milk, two hours ; and unboiled, a quarter of 
an hour longer. In eggs, which occupied the same 
time, the case was reversed, — raw ones being digested 
sooner than cooked. Soast beef and mutton required 
three and three and a quarter hours respectively ; 
veal, salt beef, and broiled chicken remained for 
four hours ; and roast pork enjoyed the bad pre- 
eminence of needing five and a quarter hours. 

Value of the Different Kinds of Food. — Beef and 
Mutton possess the greatest nutritive value of any 
of the meats. Lamb is less strengthening, but more 
delicate. Like the 3^oung of all animals, it should 
be thoroughly cooked, and at a high temperature, 
properly to develop its delicious flavor. Porlc has 
much carbon. It sometimes contains a parasite 
called trichina, which may be transferred to the 
human system, producing disease and often death. 



* In 1822, Alexis St. Martin, a Canadian in the employ of the American 
Fur Company, was accidentally shot in the left side. Two years after, the 
wonnd was entirely healed, leaving, however, an opening about two and a 
half inches in circumference into the stomach. Through this the mucous 
membrane protruded, forming a kind of valve which prevented the dis- 
charge of food, but could be readily depressed by the finger, thus exposing 
the interior. For several years he was tinder the care of Dr. Beaumont, a 
skillful physician, who experimented upon him by gi^dng various kinds of 
food, and watching their digestion through this opening. By means of 
these observations, and others performed on Katherine Kutt, a woman 
who had a similar aperture in the stomach, we have very important in- 
formation as to the digestibility of different kinds of food. 



156.] DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD. 169 

The only preventive is thorough cooking. Fish is 
more watery than flesh, and many find it difficult 
of digestion. Like meat, it loses its mineral con- 
stituents and natural juices when salted, and is much 
less nourishing. Oysters are highly nutritious, but 
are more easily assimilated when raw than when 
cooked. Milk is a model food, as it contains albumen, 
starch, fat, and mineral matter. No single substance 
can sustain life for so long a time. Cheese is very 
nourishing — one pound being equal in value to two 
of meat, but it is not adapted to a weak stomach. 
(See p. 322.) Eggs are most easily digested when the 
white is barely coagulated and the yolk is unchanged. 
Bread* should be made of unbolted flour. The bran 
of wheat furnishes the mineral matter we need in 
our bones and teeth, gives the bulk so essential to 
the proper distension of the organs, and by its rough- 
ness gently stimulates them to action. Corn is rich 
in fat. It contains, however, more indigestible mat- 
ter than any other grain, except oats, and is less 
nutritious than wheat. f The Potato is tAvo thirds 



* Very fresh, bread, warm biscuit, etc., are condensed by mastication 
into a pasty mass that is not easily penetrated by the gastric juice, and 
hence they are not healthful. In Gei-niany bread is not allowed to be sold 
at the baker's till it is twenty-four hoiirs old — a wise provision for those 
who have not strength to resist temptation. This riile of eating may well 
be adopted by every one who cares more for his health than for a gratifica- 
tion of his appetite. 

1 Persons unaccustomed to the use of corn find it liable to produce 
derangement of the digestive organs. This was made fearfully apparent in 
the prisons of Anderson ville during the late civil war. The vegetable food 
of the Federal prisoners had hitherto been chiefly wheat bread and pota- 
toes — the corn bread so extensively used at the Soxith being quite new to 
most of them as a constant article of diet. It soon became not only loath- 
pome, but productive of seriouts diseases. On iho other hand, it \v;is the 



170 DIGESTION AND FOOD. [156,157. 

water, — the rest being mainly starch. Ripe Fruits, 
and those vegetables usually eaten raw, dilute the 
more concentrated food, and also supply the blood 
with acids, which are cooling in summer, and useful, 
perhaps, in assimilation. 

The Stimulants. — Coffee is about half nitrogen, 
and the rest fatty, saccharine, and mineral sub- 
stances. It is, therefore, of much nutritive value, 
especially when taken with milk and sugar. Its 
peculiar stimulating property is due to a principle 
called caffeine. Its aroma is developed by browning, 
but destroyed by burning. No other substance so 
soon relieves the sense of fatigue.* Taken in moder- 
ation, it clears the intellect, tranquilizes the nerves, 
and usually leaves no unpleasant reaction. It serves 
also as a kind of negative food, since it retards the 
process of waste. 

In some cases, however, it produces a rush of 
blood to the head, and should be at once discarded. 
At the close of a full meal it hinders digestion, and 
at night produces wakefulness. In youth, when the 
vital powers are strong, and the functions of nature 
prompt in rallying from fatigue, it is not needed, 
and may be injurious in stimulating a sensitive 
organization. 

Tea possesses an active principle called tlieine. 



principal article in tlie rations of the Confederate soldiers, to whom habit 
made it a nutritions and wholesome form of food, as was shown by their 
endurance.— FLiifT, Physiology of Mnn^^ ol. II., page 41. 

* In the late civil war, the first desire of the soldiers upon halting after 
a wearisome march, was to make a cup of coffee. This was taken withotit 
milk:, and often without sugar, yet was always welcome. 



157,158] THE STIMULANTS. 171 

When used moderately, its effects are similar to 
those of coffee, except that it exerts an astringent 
action. It contains tannin, which, if the tea is 
strong, coagulates the albumen of the food — tans it 
— and thus delays digestion. In excess, tea causes 
nervous tremor, disturbed sleep, palpitation of the 
heart, and indigestion.* (See p. 322.) 

Chocolate contains much fat, and also nitrogenous 
matter resembling albumen. Its active principle, 
theohromine,\ has some of the properties of caffeine 
and theine. 

The Cooking of Food breaks the little cells, and 
softens the fibers of which it is composed. In broil- 
ing or roasting meat, it should be exposed to a strong 
heat at once, in order to coagulate the albumen upon 
the outside, and thus prevent the escape of the nu- 
tritious juices. The cooking may then be finished at 
a lower temperature. The same principle applies to 
boiling meat. In making soups, on the contrary, the 
heat should be applied slowly, and should reach the 
boiling point for only a few moments at the close. 
This prevents the coagulation of the albumei]. Fry- 
ing is an unhealthful mode of (X)oking food, as 
thereby the fat becomes partially disorganized. 



* Tea aiid coffee should be made with boiling water, but should not be 
boiled afterward. During the " steeping " process, so customary in this 
country, the volatile aroma is lost and a bitter principle extracted. In 
both England and China it is usual to infuse tea diroctlj- in the urn from 
which it is to bo drawn. The tannin in tea is shown when a divp falls on 
a loiife-blade. The black spot is a tannate of iron— a compound of the acid 
in the tea and the metal. 

t It is said that Tiinnanis. tlu^ Lrri^it botanist, was so fond of ohocolato 
that ho named the coi'oa-tivo "Thoobroma,'" the food o\' (ho gods. 



172 D|^ESTIOX AND FOOD. [158,159. 

Rapid Eating produces many evil results. 1. There 
is not enough, saliva mixed with the food ; 2. The 
coarse pieces resist the action of the digestive fluids ; 
3. The food is washed down with drinks that dilute 
the gastric juice, and hinder its work ; 4. We do not 
appreciate the quantity we eat until the stomach is 
overloaded ; 5. Failing to get the taste of our food, 
we think it insipid, and hence use condiments that 
over-stimulate the digestive organs. In these various 
ways the appetite becomes depraved, the stomach 
vexed, the system overworked, and the foundation 
of dyspepsia is laid.* (See p. 324.) 

The Quantity and Quality of Food required vary 
with the age and habits of each individual. The 
diet of a child f should be largel}^ vegetable, and 
more abundant than that of an aged person. A 
sedentary occupation necessitates less food than an 
out-door life. One accustomed to manual labor, on 
entering school, should practice self-denial until his 
system becomes fitted to the new order of things. 
He should not, however, fall into the opposite error. 
We read of great men who have lived on bread and 
water, and the conscientious student sometimes 
thinks that, to be great, he, too, must starve him- 
self.]; On the contrar}^, many of the greatest workers 

* When one is compelled to eat in a hurry, as at a railway station, he 
would do well to confine himself principally to meat ; and to dilute this 
concentrated food with fruit, crackers, etc., taken afterward more leisurely. 

+ In youth, repair exceeds waste ; hence the hody grows rapidly, and 
the form is plump. In middle life, repair and waste equal each other, and 
growth ceases. In old age, waste exceeds repair; hence the powers are 
enfeebled and the skin lies in wrinkles on the shrunken form. 

:|: As Dr. Holland well remarks, the dispensation of saw-dust has passed 



159,160.] QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF FOOD. 173 

are the greatest eaters. A powerful engine needs a 
corresponding furnace. Only, we should be careful 
not to use more fuel than is needed to run the ma- 
chine. (See p. 325.) 

The season should modify our diet. In winter, we 
need highly carbonaceous food, plenty of meat, fat, 
etc. ; but in summer we should temper the heat in 
our corporeal stoves with fruits and vegetables. 

The climate also has its necessities. The inhab- 
itants of the frigid north have an almost insatiable 
longing for fat.* Thus, in 1812, when the Allies 
entered Paris, the Cossacks drank all the oil from 
the lamps, and left the streets in darkness. In trop- 
ical regions, a low, unstimulating diet of fruits forms 
the chief dependence.f 

away. If we desire a horse to win the race, we must give him plentj^ of 
oats. 

* Dr. Hayes, the arctic explorer, says, that the daily ration of the 
Esquimaux was from twelve to fifteen pounds of meat, one third being fat. 
On one occasion, he saw a man eat ten pounds of walrus flesh and blubber 
at a single meal. The low temperature had a remarkable effect on the 
members of his own party, and some of them were in the habit of drinking 
the contents of the oil-kettle with evident relish. Other travelers narrate 
the most incredible stories of the voracity of the Inhabitants of arctic 
regions. Saritcheflf, a Russian admiral, tells of a man who in his presence 
ate, at a meal, a mess of twenty-eight pounds of boiled rice and butter, 
although he had already partaken of his brealcfast. Captain Cochrane fur- 
ther adds, in narrating this statement, that he has himself seen three of 
the savages consume a reindeer at a sitting. 

t A natural appetite for a particular kind of food is an expression not 
only of desire, but of fitness. Thus the craving of childhood for sugar indi- 
cates a need of the system. It is questionable how far it is proper to force 
or persuade one to eat that which he disrelishes, or his stomach loathes. 
Life within is linked with life without. Each organ requires its peculiar 
nutriment, and there is often a peculiar influence demanded of which wo 
can have no notice except by natural instinct. Y-et, as wo ai*e ci'eatui'es of 
habit and impulse, wo need common sense and good judgment to connect 
the too often wayward promptings of an artificial cra\-ing. 



174 DIGESTION* AND FOOD. [160,161. 

When Food should be Taken. — On taking food, 
the blood sets at once to the ahnientary canal, and 
the energies are fixed upon the proper performance 
of this work. We should not, therefore, undertake 
hard study, labor, or exercise directly after a hearty 
meal. We should give the stomach at least half an 
hour. He who toils with brain or muscle, and thus 
centers the blood in any particular organ, before eat- 
ing, should allow time for the circulation to become 
equalized. There should be an interval of four to 
five hours between our regular meals, and there 
should be no lunching between times. With young 
children, where the vital processes are more rapid, 
less time may intervene. As a general rule, nothing 
should be eaten within two or three hours of re- 
tiring. (See p. 33 6.) 

How Food should be Taken. — A good laugh is 
the best of sauces. The meal-time should be the 
happiest hour of the day. Care and grief are the 
bitter foes of digestion. A cheerful face and a 
light heart are friends to long life, and nowhere 
do they serve us better than at the table. God 
designed that we should enjoy eating, and that, 
having stopped before satiety was reached, we should 
have the satisfaction always attendant on a good 
work well done. 

Need of a Variety. — Careful investigations have 
shown that any one kind of food, however nutritious 
in itself, fails after a time to preserve the highest 
working poAver of the body. Our appetite palls when 
we confine our diet to a regular routine. Nature 



161,162.] THE WONDEES OF DIGESTION. 175 

demands variety, and she has furnished the means 
of gratifying it.* 

The Wonders of Digestion. — We can understand 
much of the process of digestion. We can look into 
the stomach and trace its various steps. Indeed, the 
cjiemist can reproduce in his laboratory many of the 
operations; "a step further," as Fontenelle has said, 
"and he would surprise nature in the very act." 
Just here, when he seems so successful, he is com- 
pelled to pause. At the threshold of life the wisesi 
physiologist reverently admires, wonders, and wor- 
ships. 

How strange is this transformation of food to 
flesh ! We make a meal of meat, vegetables, and 
drink. Q-round by the teeth, mixed by the stomach, 
dissolved by the digestive fluids, it is swept through 
the body. Each organ, as it passes, snatches its par- 
ticular food. Within the cells of the tissues f it is 



* She opens her hand, and pours forth to man the treasures of every 
land and every sea, because she would give to him a wide and vigorous 
life, participant of all variety. For him the corn-fields wave their golden 
grain— wheat, rye, oats, maize, or rice, each different, but alike sufficing. 
Freely for him the palm, the date, the banana, the bread-fruit tree, the 
pine, spread out a harvest on the air; and pleasant apple, plum, or peach 
solicit his ready hand. Beneath his foot lie stored the starch of the potato, 
the gluten of the turnip, the sugar of the beet; while all the intorinediate 
space is rich with juicy herbs. 

Nature bids him eat and be meny ; adding to his feast the solid tlesh 
of bird, and beast, and fish, prepared as victims for the siicrifice : firni 
muscle to malce strong the arm of toil, in the industrious temperate zone ; 
and massive ribs of fat to Icindle inward fires for the sad dwellei-s \inder 
arctic sluos.—HeaUh and its Con (f ifions. — JIi^to-h . 

t As the body is comi)osed of individual organs, and carh organ of sep- 
arate tissues, so each tissue is made xip of minute colls. Each cell is a little 
world by itself, too small to be seen by the naked eye. but open to tho 
microscope. It has its own form and constitution as much as a special 



176 BIG-ESTION AND FOOD. [162,163. 

transformed into the soft, sensitive brain, or the 
hard, callous bone ; into briny tears, or bland saliva, 
or acrid perspiration ; bile for digestion, oil for the 
hair, nails for the fingers, and flesh for the cheek. 

Within us is an Almighty Architect, who super- 
intends a thousand builders, which make in a waj^ 
past all human comprehension, here a fiber of a 
muscle, there a filament of a nerve ; here construct- 
ing a bone, there uniting a tendon, — fashioning each 
with scrupulous care and unerring, nicety.* So, with- 
out sound of builder or stroke of hammer, goes up, 
day by day, the body — the glorious temple of the 
soul. 

Diseases, etc. — 1. Dyspepsia^ or indigestion of 
food, is generally caused by an over-taxing of the 
digestive organs. Too much food is used, and the 
entire system i^ burdened by the excess. Meals are 
taken at irregular hours, when the fluids are not 
ready. A hearty supper is eaten when the body, 
wearied with the day's labor, demands rest. The 
appetite craves no food when the digestion is en- 
feebled, but stimulants and condiments excite it, 
and the unwilling organs are oppressed by that 
which they can not properly manage.- 

Strong tea, alcoholic drinks, and tobacco derange 
the alimentary function. 

organ in the body. It absorbs from the blood such food as suits its pior- 
poses. Moreover, the number of cells in an organ is as constant as the num- 
ber of organs. As the organs expand with the growth of the body, so the 
cells of each tissxie enlarge, but shrink again with age and the decline of 
life. Life begins and ends in a cell.— See Ajyplefons'' Ciiclopedia^ Art. "Absorp- 
tion." 

* See Cooke's Religion and Chemistry^ page 236. 



163,164.] ALCOHOL. 177 

Too great variety of dishes, rich food, tempting 
flavors, — all lead to an overloading of the stomach. 
This patient, long-suffering member at last wears 
out. Pain, discomfort, diseases of the digestive or- 
gans, and insufficient nutrition are the penalties of 
violated laws. (See p. 828.) 

2. The Mumps are an inflammation of the parotid 
and submaxillary glands (see p. 159). The disease is 
generally epidemic, and is believed to be contagious ; 
the patient should therefore be carefully secluded 
for the sake of others as well as himself. The 
swelling may be allowed to take its course. Relief 
from pain is often experienced by applying flannels 
wrung out of hot water. Great care should be used 
not to check the inflammation, and, on first going 
out after recovery, not to take cold. 



ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND NARCOTICS. 

1. ALCOHOL (Continued from p. 147). 

Relation of Alcohol to the Digestive Organs. — 

Is Alcohol a Food f To answer this question, let us 
make a comparison. If you receive into your stom- 
ach a piece of bread or beef, Nature welcomes its 
presence. The juices of the system at once take hold 
of it, dissolve it, and transform it for the uses of the 
body. A milhon tiny fingers (lacteals and veins) 
reach out to grasp it, work it over, and carry it into 
the circulation. The blood bears it onward wheivA'er 
it is needed to mend or to build "The house vou live 



178 DIGESTION" AND FOOD. [164,165. 

in." Soon, it is no longer bread or beef; it is flesh 
on your arm ; its chemical energy is imparted to 
you, and it becomes your strength. 

If, on the other hand, you take into your stomach 
a little alcohol, it receives no such welcome. Xature 
treats it as a poison, and seeks to rid herself of the 
intruder as soon as possible.* The juices of the sj^s- 
tem will flow from every pore to dilute and weaken 
it, and to prevent its shriveling up the delicate 
membranes with which it comes in contact. The 
veins will take it up and bear it rapidly through 
the system. Every organ of elimination, all the 
scavengers of the body — the lungs, the kidne^^s, the 
perspiration-glands, at once set to work to throw off 
the enem}^ So surely is this the case, that the 
breath of a person who has drunk only a single 
glass of the lightest beer will betray the fact. 

The alcohol thus eliminated is entirely unchanged. 
Nature apparently makes no effort to appropriate 

* Pood is digested, alcohol is not. Food warms the blood, directly or 
indirectly ; alcohol lowers the temperatare. Food nourishes the body, in 
the sense of assimilating itself to the tissues ; alcohol does not. Food 
makes blood ; alcohol never does any thing more innocent than mixing with 
it. Food feeds the blood-cells; alcohol destroys them. Food excites, in 
health, to normal action only; alcohol tends to inflammation and disease. 
Food gives force to the body ; alcohol excites reaction and wastes force, in 
the first place, and in the second, as a true narcotic, represses "\T.tal action 
and corresponding nutrition.— If alcohol does not act like food, neither does 
it behave like water. Water is the subtle but innocent vehicle of circula- 
tion, which dissolves the solid food, holds in play the chemical and vital re- 
actions of the tissues, conveys the nutritive solutions from cell to cell, from 
tube to tube, and carries off and expels the effete matter. Water neither 
irritates tissue, wastes force, nor suppresses vital action : whereas alcohol 
does all three. Alcohol hardens solid tissue, thickens the blood, narcotizes 
the nerves, and in every conceivable direction antagonizes the operation 
and function of water.— Lees. 



165,166.] ALCOHOL. 179 

it.* It courses every-where through the circulation, 
and into the great organs, with all its properties 
unmodified. 

Alcohol, then, is not, like bread or beef, taken 
hold of, broken up by the mysterious process of di- 
gestion, and used by the body.f "It can not there- 
fore be regarded as an aliment," or food. — Flint. 
" Beer, wine, and spirits," says Liebig, " contain no 
element capable of entering into the composition of 
the blood or the muscular fiber."J " That alcohol is 
incapable of forming any part of the body," remarks 
Cameron, "is admitted by all physiologists. It can 
not be converted into brain, nerve, muscle, or blood." 



* It was formerly a question considerably discussed, whether alcohol 
exists in the brain, or in the fluid found in the ventricles, in intoxicated 
persons. This was settled by Percy, who found alcohol in the brain and 
liver of dogs poisoned with alcohol, and of men who had died after excess- 
ive drinking. In these expferiments, the presence of alcohol was determined 
by distillation, and the distilled substance burned with a blue flaifie, and 
dissolved camphor.— Flint's Physiology of Man. 

t Because of the difficulties of such an experiment, we have not yet 
been able to account satisfactorily by the excretions for all the alcohol 
taken into the stomach. This remains as yet one of the unsolved pi'oblems 
of physiological chemistry. To collect the whole of the insensible perspira- 
tion, for example, is well-nigh impossible. It was supposed at one time 
that a part of the alcohol is oxidized— <. <?., bui^ned, in the system. But 
such a process would impart heat, and it is now proved that alcohol cools, 
instead of warms, the blood. Moreover, the closest analysis fails to detect 
in the circulation any trace of the products of alcoholic combustion, such 
as aldehyde and acetic acid. "The fact," says Flint, "that alcohol is 
always eliminated, even when drunk in minute quantity, and that its 
elimination continues for a considerable time, gradually diminishing, ren- 
ders it probable that all that is taken into the body is removed." 

X The small amoiint of nutritive substance, chiefly sugar derived from 
the grain or fruit used in the manufacture of beer or wine, can not, of 
course, be compared with that contained in bread or beef at the s;ime cost. 
Liebig says, in his Letters on Chemistry, "We can prove, with mathematical 
certainty, that as nnich flour as can lie on \\\o point o\' a tablo-knifo is 
more nutritious than eight qiiarts of trfie bost naxarian boor." 



180 



DIGESTION AND FOOD. 



[166, 167. 



Effect upon the Digestion.* — Experiments tend to 
prove that alcohol coagulates and precipitates the 
pepsin from the gastric juice, and so puts a stop to 
its great work in the process of digestion. 

The greed of alcohol for water causes it to imbibe 
iTioisture from the tissues and juices, and to inflame 
the delicate mucous membrane. It shows the power 
of Nature to adapt herself to circumstances, that the 
soft, velvety lining of the throat and stomach should 
come at length to endure the presence of a fiery 
liquid which, undiluted, would soon shrivel and 
destroy it. In self-defense, the juices pour in to 
weaken the alcohol, and it is soon hurried into the 
circulation. Before this can be done, " it must ab- 
sorb about three, times its bulk of water"; hence, 
very strong liquor may be retained in the stomach 
long enough to interfere seriously with the digestion, 
and to injure the lining coat. Habitual use of alco- 



* The medical value of alcoh.ol in its relations to digestion is not dis- 
cussed in this book. The experiments of Dr. Henry Munroe, of Hull, pub- 
lished, in the London Medical Journal^ are here summarized as showing that 
the tendency to retard digestion is common to all forms of alcholic 
drinks. 



Finely Minced 
Beef. 


2d Hour. 4th Hour. 


6th Hour. 


8th Hour. 


10th Hour. 


I. 

Gastric juice 
and water. 


Digesting 
^^^ and 
^P-'^'l^^- separating. 


Beef much 
loosened. 


Broken up 
into shreds. 


Dissolved 
like soup. 


n. 

Gastric juice 
with alcohol. 


Slightly 
No alteration ' opaque, but 
perceptible. beef 

i unchanged. 


Shght coat- 
ing on beef. 


No visible 
change. 


Solid on 
cooling. 
Pepsin pre- 
cipitated. 


in. 

Gastric juice 
and pale ale. 


Cloudy, 
No change. with fur on 
beef. 


Beef partly 
loosened. 


No further 
change. 


No diges- 
tion. Peijsin 
precipitated. 



167, 168.] EFFECT UPON THE KIDNEYS. 181 

hol permanently dilates the blood-vessels ; thickens 
and hardens the membranes ; in some cases, ulcer- 
ates the surface ; and, finally, " so weakens the as^ 
similation that the proper supply of food can not 
be appropriated." — Flint.* 

Effect upon the Liver. — Alcohol is carried by the 
portal vein directly to the liver. This organ, after 
the brain, holds the largest share. The influence of 
the poison is here easily traced. "The color of the 
bile is soon changed from yellow to green, and even 
to black ; " the connective tissue between the lobules 
becomes inflamed ; and, in the case of a confirmed 
drunkard, hardened and shrunk, the surface often 
assuming a nodulated appearance known as the 
"hob-nailed liver." Morbid matter is sometimes de- 
posited, causing what is called "Fatty degeneration," 
so that the liver is increased to twice or thrice its 
natural size. 

Effect upon the Kidneys. — The kidneys, like the 
liver, are liable in time to undergo, through the in- 
fluence of alcohol, a "Fatty degeneration," in which 
the cells become filled with particles of fat ; f the 

* The case of St. Martin (p. 168) gave an excellent opportunity to 
watch, the action of alcohol upon the stomach. Dr. Beaumont sumnaarized 
his experiments thus : " The free, ordinary use of any intoxicating liquor, 
when continued for some days, invariably produced inflammation, iilcerous 
patches, and, finally, a discharge of morbid matter tinged with blood." 
Yet St. Martin never complained of pain in his stomach, the narcotic influ- 
ence of the alcohol preventing the signal of danger that Nat\ire ordinarily 
gives. 

t Disabled by the fatty deposits, the kidneys are unable to separate the 
waste matter coming to them for elimination fi'oni the systeni. The poison- 
OTis material is poured back into the circulation, and often delirium ensues. 
— HuBBARP. R.ichai'dson states that his experience " is to the eflVct that seven 
out of every eight instance's of kidney disease are atti-ibutablc to alcoliol." 



182 DIGESTION AND FOOD. [168. 

vessels lose their contractility ; and, worst of all, the 
membranes may be so modified as to allow the 
albuminous part of the blood to filter through them, 
and so to rob the body of one of its most valuable 
constituents.* 

Does Alcohol Impart Heat? — During the first 
flush after drinking wine, for example, a sense of 
warmth is felt. This is due to the tides of warm 
blood that are being sent to the surface of the body, 
owing to the vascular enlargement and to the rapid 
pumping of the heart. There is, however, no fresh 
heat developed. On the contrar}^, the bringing the 
blood to the surface causes it to cool faster, reaction 
sets in, a chilliness is experienced as one becomes 
sober, and a delicate thermometer placed under the 
tongue of the inebriate may show a fall of even two 
degrees below the standard temperature of the body. 
Several hours are required to restore the usual heat. 

As early as 1850, Dr. IST. S. Davis, of Chicago, ex-President 
of the American Medical Association, instituted an extensive 
series of experiments to determine the effect of the different 
articles of food and drinks on the temperature of the system. 
He conclusively proved that, during the digestion of all kinds 
of food, the temperature of the body is increased, but when 
alcohol is taken, either in the form of fermented or distilled 
beverages, the temperature begins to fall within a half-hour, 
and continues to decrease for two or three hours, and that the 
reduction of temperature, in extent as well as in duration, is in 
exact proportion to the amount of alcohol taken. 

It naturally follows that, contrary to the accepted 

* This deterioration of structure frequently gives rise to what is known 
as "Bright's Disease."— Richardson. 



168, 169.J DOES ALCOHOL IMPAET STKENGTH? 183 

opinion, liquor does not fortify against cold. The 
experience of travelers at the North coincides with 
that of Dr. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, who says : 
" While fat is absolutely essential to the inhabitants 
and travelers in arctic countries, alcohol is, in almost 
any shape, not only completely useless, but posi- 
tively injurious. I have known strong, able-bodied 
men to become utterly incapable of resisting cold in 
consequence of the long-continued use of alcoholic 
drink." 

Does Alcohol Impart Strength ? — Experience 
shows that alcohol weakens the power of undergoing 
severe bodily exertion.* Men who are in training 
for running, rowing, and other contests where great 
strength is required, deny themselves all liquors, 
even when they are ordinarily accustomed to their 
use. 

Dr. Richardson made some interesting experiments to show 
the influence of alcohol upon muscular contraction. He carefully 
weighted the hind leg of a frog, and, by means of electricity, 
stimulating the muscle to its utmost power of contraction, he 
found out how much the frog could lift. Then administering 
alcohol, he discovered that the response of the muscle to the 
electrical current became feebler and feebler, as the narcotic 
began to take effect, until, at last, the animal could raise less 
than half the amount it lifted by the natural contraction when 
uninfluenced bv alcohol. 



* Dr. McRae, in speaking of Arctic exploration, at the nieotinix of the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Montreal in 
1856, said: "The moment that a man had swallowed a drink of spirits, it 
was certain that his day's work was nearly at an ond. It was ahsolntely 
necessary that the rule of total abstinence be rigidly enforced, if we would 
accomplish our day's task. The use of liquor as a beverage when wo had 
work on hand, in that torriHc cold, was out of the question," _ 



184 DIGESTION AND FOOD. [169,170. 

Effect upon the Waste of the Body, — The ten- 
dency of alcohol is to cause a formation of an un- 
stable substance resembling fat,* and so the use of 
liquor for even a short time will increase the 
weight. But a more marked influence is to check 
the ordinary waste of the system, so that "the 
amount of carbonic acid exhaled from the lungs 
may be reduced as much as thirty to fifty per cent.'' 
— HiNTON. The life -process is one of incessant 
change. Its rapidity is essential to vigor and 
strength. When the functions are in full pla}^, each 
organ is being constantly torn down, and as con- 
stantly rebuilt with the materials furnished from 
our food. Any thing that checks this oxidation of 
the tissues, or hinders the deposition of new matter, 
disturbs the vital functions. Both these results are 
the inevitable effects of alcohol ; for, since the blood 
contains less oxygen and more carbonic acid, and 
the power of assimilating the food is decreased, it 
follows that every process of waste and repair must 
be correspondingly weakened. The person using 
liquor consequently needs less bread and beef, and 
so alcohol seems to him a food — a radical error, as 
we have shown. 

Alcohol Creates a Progressive Appetite for Itself. 
— When liquor is taken, even in the most moderate 



* The molecular deposits equalizing the waste of the system, do not go 
on regularly under the influence of alcohol ; the tissues are not kept up f o 
their standard ; and, in time, their composition is changed by a deposit of 
an amorphous matter resembling fat. This is an unstable substance, and 
the functions of animal life all retrograde. — Hubbard, The Opium Habit and 
Alcoholism. 



170,171.] THE LAW OF HEREDITY. 185 

quantity, it soon becomes necessary, and then arises 
a craving demand for an increased amount to pro- 
duce the original effect. Ko food creates this con- 
stantly-augmenting want. A cup of milk drank at 
dinner does not lead one to go on, day by day, 
drinking more and more milk, until to get milk 
becomes the one great longing of the whole being. 
Yet this is the almost universal effect of alcohol. 
Hunger is satisfied by any nutritious food : the 
dram-drinker's thirst demands alcohol. The com- 
mon experience of mankind teaches us the immi- 
nent peril that attends the formation of this pro- 
gressive poison-habit. A single glass taken as a 
tonic may lead to the drunkard's grave. 

Worse than this, the alcoholic craving may be 
transmitted from father to son, and young persons 
often find themselves cursed with a terrible disease 
known as alcoholism — a keen, morbid appetite for 
liquor that demands gratification at any cost — 
stamped upon their very being through the reckless 
indulgence of this habit on the part of some one 
of their ancestors.* 

The Law of Heredity is, in this connection, well 
worth consideration. " The world is beginning to 
perceive," says Francis Galton, '' that the life of each 

* The American Medical Association, at their meeting in St. Paul, 
Minnesota (1883), re-stated in a series of resolutions their conviction, that 
''Alcohol shovild be classed with other powerful drugs ; that when presci'ibed 
medically, it should be done with conscientious caution and a sense of great 
responsibility ; that used as a beverage it is productive of a large amount 
of physical and mental disease ; that it i/itail.^ dhtamf ami tn/etNtd ro/isrt/M- 
tions vpon. offspring, and that it is the cause of a large pei-centage of the 
crime and pauperism of our largo cities and cinintry." 



186 DIGESTIOX AXD FOOD. [171,172. 

individual is, in some real sense, a continuation of 
the lives of his ancestors." "Each of us is the 
footing up of a double column of figures that goes 
back to the first pair." '^ We are omnibuses," remarks 
Holmes, "in AA^hich all our ancestors ride." AVe in- 
herit from our parents our features, our physical 
vigor, our mental faculties, and even much of our 
moral character. Often, Avhen one generation is 
skipped, the qualities Avill re-appear in the folloAAing 
one. The A^irtues, as Avell as the vices, of our fore- 
fathers, have added to, or subtracted from, the 
strength of our brain and muscle. The evil tenden- 
cies of our natures, Avhich it is the struggle of our 
lives to resist, constitute a part of our heir-looms 
from the past. Our descendants, in turn, Avill have 
reason to bless us only if Ave hand doAvn to them a 
pure healthy physical, mental, and moral being. 

" There is a marked tendency in nature to trans- 
mit all diseased conditions. Thus, the children of 
consumptiA^e parents are apt to be consumptives. 
But of all agents, alcohol is the most potent in 
establishing a heredity that exhibits itself in the de- 
struction of mind and bod}^* Its malign influence 
AA^as observed by the ancients long before the pro- 
duction of AA'hiskev or brandA^ or other distilled 



* Xearly all the diseases springing from indulgence in distilled and fer- 
mented liquors are liable to become hereditary, and to descend to at least 
three or four generations, unless starved out by uncompromising absti- 
nence. But the distressing aspect of the heredity of alcohol is the trans- 
mitted drink-crave. This is no dream of an enthusiast, but the result of a 
natural law. Men and women upon whom this dread inheritance has been 
forced are every-where around us, bravely struggling to lead a sober life. — 
Dk. Xormax Keek. 



172,173.] PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 187 

liquors, and when fermented liquors or wines only 
were known. Aristotle says, 'Drunken women have 
children like unto themselves,' and Plutarch remarks, 
' One drunkard is the father of another.' The 
drunkard by inheritance is a more helpless slave 
than his progenitor, and his children are more help- 
less still, ifnless on the mother's side there is an un- 
tainted blood. For there is not only a propensity 
transmitted, but an actual disease of the nervous 
system." — Dr. Willard Parker.* 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 

1. How do clothing and shelter economize food? 

2. Is it well to take a long walk before breakfast? 

3. Why is warm food easier to digest than cold? 

4. Why is salt beef less nutritious than fresh ?t 

5. What should be the food of a man recovering from a fever? 
G. Is a cup of black coffee a healthful close to a hearty dinner? 

7. Should iced water be used at a meal? 

8. Why is strong tea or coffee injurious ? 

9. Should food or drink be taken hot? 

10. Are fruit-cakes, rich pastry, and puddings wholesome? 

11. Why are warm biscuit and bread hard of digestion? 

12. Should any stimulants be used in youth? 

13. Why should bread be made spongy? 

14. Which should remain longer in the mouth, bread or meat? 

15. Why should cold water be used in making soup, aiid hot watei" in 
boiling meat? 

16. Name the injtirious effects of over-eating. 

,17. Why do not buckwheat cakes, with syrup and butter, taste as well 
in July as in January? 



* The sul)i(>ct of alcohol is continued in the chapter on the Nervous System. 

t The French Acaaeniicians found that flesh soaked in water so as to deprive it of 
its mineral matter and juices, lost its nutritive value, anil that aninxals fed on it soon 
died. Indeed, for all puri)oses of nutrition, Liebig said it was no better than stomas, and 
the utmost torments of hunger were hardly sutVieient to induce them to continue the 
dirt There was plenty of luitritive food, but there was no medium for its solution and 
abs(n-])tiou, and hence it was useless. 



188 DIGESTIOls^ AND FOOD. [173,174. 

18. Why is a late supper injurious? 

19. WTaat makes a man "'bilious"? 

20. What is the best remedy? Ans. Diet to give the organs rest, and 
active exercise to arouse the secretions and the circulation. 

21. What is the practical use of hunger? 

22. How can jugglers drink when standing on their heads? 

23. Why do we relish butter on bread? 

24. What would you do if you had taken arsenic by mistake? (See 
Appendix.) 

25. Why should ham and sausage be thoroughly cooked? 

26. Why do we wish butter on fish, eggs with tapioca, oil on salad, and 
milk with rice ? 

27. Explain the relation of food to exercise. 

28. How do you explain the difference in the manner of eating between 
carnivorous and herbivorous animals? 

29. Why is a child's face plump and an old man's wrinkled ? 

30. Show how life depends on repair and waste. 

31. What is the difference between the decay of the teeth and the 
constant decay of the body? 

32. Should biscuit and cake containing yellow spots of soda be eaten ? 

33. Tell how the body is composed of organs, how organs are made 
up of tissues, and how tissues consist of cells. 

34. Why do we not need to drink three pints of water per day? 

35. Why, during a pestilence, are those who use liquors as a beverage 
the first, and often the only ^dctims? 

86. What two secretions seem to have the same general use? 

37. How" may the digestive organs be strengthened? 

38. Is the old rule, "after dinner sit awhile," a good one? 

39. What would you do if you had taken laudanum by mistake ? Paris 
G-reen? Sugar of lead? Oxalic acid? Phosphorus from matches? Ammo- 
nia? Corrosive sublimate? (See p. 265.) 

40. What is the simplest way to produce vomiting, so essential in case 
of accidental poisoning? 

41. In what way does alcohol interfere with the digestion? 

42. Is alcohol assimilated? 

43. What is the effect of alcohol on the albuminous substances ? 

44. Is there any nourishment in beer? 

45. Show how the excessive use of alcohol may first increase, and, 
afterward, decrease, the size of the liver. 

46. Will liquor help one to endure cold and exposure? 

47. What is a fatty degeneration of the kidneys? 

48. Contrast the action of alcohol and water in the body. 

49. Is alcohol, in any proper sense of the term, a food? 

50. Does liquor strengthen the muscles of a working man? 

51. Is Uquor a wholesome "tonic"? 

52. Is it a good plan to take a glass of liquor before dinner? 



VII. 

The Nervous System 



Mark then the cloven sphere that holds 
All thoughts in its mysterious folds, 
That feels sensation's faintest thrill, 
And flashes forth the sovereign will ; 
Think on the stormy world that dwells 
Lock'd in its dim and clustering cells ; 
The lightning gleams of power it sheds 
Along its hollow, glassy threads 1 " 



"As a king sits high above his subjects upon his throne, and fi'om it 
speaks behests that all obey, so from the throne of the brain-cells is all the 
kingdom of a man directed, controlled, and influenced. Eor this occxipant, 
the eyes watch, the ears hear, the tongue tastes, the nostrils smell, the skin 
feels. Por it, language is exhausted of its treasures, and life of its experi- 
ence; locomotion is accomplished, and quiet insured. When it wills, body 
and spirit are goaded like over-driven horses. When it allows, rest and 
sleep may come for recuperation. In short, the slightest penetration may 
not fail to perceive that all other parts obey this part, and are but minis- 
tei-s to its necessities."— (?6?6^ Hours of a Physician. 



ANALYSIS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



1. The Structure. 



2. Organs of the ISTer- 
vous System. 



1. Tlie Brain. 



2. The Spinal Cord., 



f 1. Description. 

2. The Cerebrum. 

3. The Cerebellum. 

j 1. Its Com]X)sitio?i. 
' 2. Medulla Oblongata. 



3. Hygiene. 



L 3. The Nerves. 



1. Description. 

2. Moto7^y and Sensory. 

3. Transfer of Pain. 

4. The Spinal Nerves— 
31 Fairs. 

5. 77^6 Cranial Nerves— 
12 Pairs. 

6. Sympathetic System. 

7. Crossing of Cords. 

8. Eeflex Action 
y 9. Jj!<es of Eeflex Action. 

Brain Exercise. 

Connection between Brain - groT\'th and 
Body-growth. 
I 3. Sleep. 

I 4. Effect of Sleeping-draughts. 
Lo. Sunlight. 



4. AVONDERS OF the BrAIK. 



Alcoholic Drinks 
AiTD Narcotics. 



' 1. Stage of Excitement. 

■ -, -r^^ X £ * n 2. Stage of Muscidar 

1. Effect of AIco- J. , '' 

hoi upon the 3_ ^^^ ^^^^.^^^ ^,„;^.. 
Nervous Sys- " 

tern. ^ oj ' ^- 7^ 

4. A^^G^'e 0/ Unconscious- 
ness. 

2. Effect upon the Brain. 

3. Effect upon the Mental and the Moral 

Powers. 

1. Constituents of Tobacco, 

2. Physiological Effects. 

3. Possible Disturbances produced by 

Smoking. 

4. Influence upon the Nervous System. 

5. Is Tobacco a Eood? 

6. Influence of Tobacco upon Youth. 



3. Opium 3 

4. Chloral Hydrate. 

5. Chloroform. 
^6, Cocaine. 



Description. 
Physiological Effects. 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM;^ 

Structure. — The nervous system includes the 
train ^ the spinal cord, and the nerves. It is com- 
posed of two kinds of matter — the white, and the 
gray. The former consists of minute, milk-white, 
glistening fibers, sometimes as small as 2 5-^0-0 of an 
inch in diameter ; the latter is made up of small, 
ashen-colored cells, forming a pulp-like substance of 
the consistency of blanc-mange.f This is often gath- 
ered in little masses, termed ganglions {ganglion, a 
knot), because, when a nerve passes through a group 
of the cells, they give it the appearance of a knot. 
The nerve-fibers are conductors, while the gray cells 
are generators, of nervous force.| The ganglia, or 

* The organs of circulation, respiration, and digestion, of whicli we 
have already spoken, are often called the vegetative functions, because they 
belong also to the vegetable kingdom. Plants have a circulation of sap 
through their cells corresponding to that of the blood through the capilla- 
ries. They breathe the air through their leaves, which act the part of 
lungs, and they take in food which they change into their own structure 
by a process which answers to that of digestion. The plant, however, is a 
mere collection of parts incapable of any combined action. On the otlier 
hand, the animal has a nervous system which binds all the organs together. 

t In addition to the cells, the gray substance contains also nerve-fiboi's 
continuous with the white-flbers, but generally much smaller. These form 
half the bulk of the gray substance of the spinal cord, and a largo part of 
tlie deeper layer of the gray matter in the brain.— Lei nv's Anatoiiiy. {>. ."idT. 

X What this force is we di) not know. Tn sonie respects it is like oloo- 
tricity, but, in others, it dift'ers materially. Tts velocity is about thirty- 
three meters per second.- /^/////«/' P/iijf-ics, p. M44, Note. 



19^ 



l^fiJE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 



Fig. 50. 




The Nervous System. A, cerehmm ; B, cerebellum. 



i79.] THE BRAIN. 198 

nervous centers, answer to the stations along a tele- 
graphic line, where messages are received and trans- 
mitted, and the fibers correspond to the wires that 
communicate between different parts. 

The Brain is the seat of the mind.* Its average 
weight is about fifty ounces. f It is egg shaped, and, 
soft and yielding, fills closely the cavity of the skull. 
It reposes securely on a water-bed, being surrounded 
by a double membrane (arachnoid), delicate as a 
spider's web, which forms a closed sac filled, like the 
spaces in the brain itself, with a liquid resembling 
water. Within this, and closely investing the brain, 
is a fine tissue {pia rn,ater), with a mesh of blood- 
vessels which dips down into the hollows, and bathes 
them so copiously that it uses one fifth of the entire 
circulation of the body. Around the whole is wrapped 
a tough membrane {dura mater), which lines the 
bony box of the skull, and separates the various parts 
of the organ by strong partitions. The brain consists 
of two parts — the cerebrum, and the cerebellum. 

The Cerebrum fills the front and upper part of 

* In proportion to the rest of the nervous matter in the body, it is 
larger in man than in. any of the lower animals. It is the function which 
the brain performs that distinguishes man from all other animals, and it 
is by the action of his brain that he becomes a conscious, Intelligent, and 
responsible being. The brain is the seat of that knowledge which we ex- 
press when we say I. I know it, I feel it, I saw it, are expressions of our 
individual consciousness, the seat of which is the brain. It is when the 
brain is at rest in sleep that there is least consciousness. The brain may 
be put under the influence of poisons, such as alcohol and chloroform, and 
then the body is without consciousness. Prom these auil other facts the 
brain is regarded as the seat of conmomne<fs.—L\isKF.sTT.}i 

t Cuvier's brain weighed 64 V ounces; Webstei'^s, aSA ounces; James 
Fislfs, 58 ounces ; Euloff's, 59 ounces ; an idiot's, 19 ounces. See Table in 
Flint's Nenwt-s System. 



194 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



[179-181. 



Fig. 51. 



i> 



the skull, and comprises about seven eighths of the 
entire weight of the brain. As animals rise in the 
scale of life, this higher part makes its appearance. 

It is a mass of white 
fibers, with cells of 
gray matter sprink- 
led on the outside, 
or lodged here and 
there in ganglia. It 
is so curiously 
wrinkled and folded 
as strikingly to re- 
semble the meat of 
an English walnut. 
This structure gives 
a large surface for 
the gray matter, — 
sometimes as much 
as six hundred and 
seventy square 
inches. The convolutions are not noticeable in an 
infant, but increase with the growth of the mind, 
their depth and intricacy being characteristic of high 
mental power. 

The cerebrum is divided into two hemispheres, 
connected beneath by fibers of white matter. Thus 
we have two brains,* as well as two hands and two 




Surface of the Cerebrum. 



* This doubleness has given rise to some curious speculations. In the 
case of the hand, eye, etc., we know that the sensation is made more sure. 
Thus we can see with one eye, but not so well as with both. It is perhaps 
the same with the brain. We may sometimes carry on a train of thought, 
"build an air-castle'' with one half of our brain, while the other half 



181,182.] THE CEREBRUM. l96 

eyes. This provides us with a surplus of brains, as 
it were, which can be drawn upon in an emergency. 
A large part of one hemisphere has been destroyed 
without particularly injuring the luental powers,* — 
just as a person has been blind in one eye for a long 
time without having discovered his loss. The cere- 
brum is the center of intelligence and thought. f 



looks on and watches the operation ; or, we may read and at the same 
time think of something else. So in delirium, a patient often imagines 
himself two persons, thus showing a want of harmony between the two 
halves,— Drape It, Human Physiology^ p. 329. 

* A pointed iron bar, three and a half feet long and one inch and a 
quarter in diameter, was driven by the premature blasting of a rock com- 
pletely through the side of the head of a man who was present. It entered 
below the temple, and made its exit at the top of the forehead, just about 
the middle line. The man was at first stunned, and lay in a delirious, 
semi-stupefied state for about three weeks. At the end of sixteen months, 
however, he was in perfect health, with wounds healed and mental and 
bodily functions unimpaired, except that sight was lost in the eye of the 
injured side.— Dalton. It is noticeable, however, that the man became 
changed in disposition, fickle, impatient of restraint, and profane, which he 
was not before. Pie died epileptic, nearly thirteen years after the injury. 
The tamping-iron and tlie skull are preserved in the Warren Anatomical 
Museum, Boston. 

t In man, the cerebrum presents an immense preponderance in weight 
over other portions of the brain ; in some of the lower animals, the cere- 
brum is even less in weight than the cerebellum. Another interesting 
point is the development of cerebral convolutions in certain animals, by 
which the relative amount of gray matter is increased. In fishes, reptiles, 
and birds, the surface of the hemispheres is smooth ; but, in many mam- 
malia, especially in those remarkable for intelligence, the cerebrum presents 
a greater or less number of convolutions, as it does in the human subject, 
—Flint. The average weight of the hiTman brain in proportion to the 
entire body is about 1 to 3G. The average of manimalia is 1 to 186 ; of 
birds, 1 to 213; of reptiles, 1 to 1,321; and of fishes, 1 to 5,668. There are 
some animals in which the weight of the brain beai-s a higher proportion 
to the body than it does in man ; thus in the blue-headed tit, tlic proportion 
is as 1 to 12 ; in the goldfinch, as 1 to 24 ; and in the fiold-nuniso, a^ 1 to 
31. "It does not hence follow, however, that the ctrcbruni is larger in pivpor- 
tion; in fact, it is probably not nearly so large; for in bii\is and rodent 
animals the sensory ganglia forn\ a very considerable portion of the entire 
brain. M. Baillargor has shown that the .-^-urfaa and the bii.'K- of the ocrobral 



196 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. [182. 

Persons in whom it is seriousl}^ injured or diseased 
often become unable to converse intelligently, both 
from inability to remember words and from loss of 
power to articulate them. 

The Cerebellum lies below the cerebrum, and in 
the back part of the head (Fig. 50). It is about the 
size of a small fist. Its structure is similar to that 
of the brain proper, but instead of convolutions it 
has parallel ridges, which, letting the gray matter 
down deeply into the white matter within, give it a 
peculiar appearance, called the arhor-vitce, or tree of 
life (Fig. 55). This part of the brain is the center 
for the control of the voluntary muscles,"^ particu- 

heroisplieres are so far from beai^ing any constant proportion to eacli other 
in different aniroals that, notwithstanding the depth of the convolutions in 
the human cerebrum, its bulk is two and a half times as great in propor- 
tion to its surface as it is in the rabbit, the surface of whose cerebrum is 
smooth. The size of the cerebrum, considered alone, is not, however, a fair 
test of its intellectual power. This depends upon the quantity of vesicular 
matter which it contains, as evinced not only by superficial area, but by the 
number and depth of the convolutions and by the thickness of the cortical 
layer." — Carpei^tee. 

* The exact nature of the functions of the cerebellum is one of those 
problems concerning which there is no unanimity of opinion amongst phys- 
iologists. It may be premised, however, that the knowledge we at present 
possess does enable us to come to one very important conclusion with 
respect to the functions of the cerebellum, — it enables us to say that this 
organ has no independent function either in the province of mind or in 
the province of motility. And we may perhaps safely affirm still further, 
that the cerebellum is much more intimately concerned with the produc- 
tion of bodily movements than with the evolution of mental phenomena. 
The anatomical distinctness of the cerebellum from the larger brain and 
other parts of the nervous system is more apparent than real. . . . That 
there is an habitual community of action between the cerebellum and the 
spinal cord is, I believe, doubted by none, and the fact that an intimate 
functional relationship exists between the cerebrum and the cerebellum is 
shown by the circumstance that atrophy of one cerebral hemisphere entails 
a corresponding atrophy of the opposite half of the cerebellum. The sub- 
ordinate or supplementary nature of the cerebellar function, however, in 



183,183.] THE SPINAL CORD. 197 

larly those of locomotion. Persons in whom it is 
injured or diseased walk with tottering and uncer- 
tain movements as if intoxicated, and can not per- 
form any orderly Avork. 

The Spinal Cord occupies the cavity of the back- 
bone. It is protected by the same membranes as the 
brain, but, unlike it, the -white matter is on the out- 
side, and the gray matter is within. Deep fissures 
separate it into halves (Fig. 50), which are, however, 
joined by a bridge of the same substance. Just as it 
starts from the brain, there is an expansion called 
the medulla oblongata (Fig. 55). 

The Nerves are glistening, silvery threads, com- 
posed, like the spinal cord, of white matter without 
and gray within. They ramify to all parts of the 
body. Often they are very near each other, yet are 
perfectly distinct, each conveying its own impres- 
sion.* Those which carry the orders of the mind to 

this latter relation seems equally well shown by the fact that atrophy of 
one side of the cerebellum (when it occurs as the primary event) does not 
entail any appreciable wasting in the opposite half of the cerebrum. What 
other conclusion can be drawn? If the cutting off of certain cerebral 
stimuli leads to a wasting of the opposite half of the cerebellum, this would 
seem to show that each half of the cerebellum is naturally called into ac- 
tivity in response to, or conjointly with, the opposite cerebral hemisphere. 
Wliilst conversely, if atrophy of one half of the cerebelhim does not entail 
a relative diminution in the opposite cerebral hemisphere, this would go to 
show that the cerebral hemispheres do not act in response to cerebellar 
stimuli, since their nutrition does not suffer when such stimitli are certainly 
absent. The action of the cerebrum is therefore shoA\ai to be primary, whilst 
that of the cerebellum is secondary or suboi'dinate in the pei*formai\oe of 
those functions in which they are both concerned.— H. Ch.vkt.tox Bastiax, 
Paralysis from Brain Disease. 

* Press two fingers together, and, closing the eyes, let some one pass 
the point of a pin lightly from one to tht? other; you will be able to tell 
which is touched, yet if th(> nerves came in contact with each other any- 
where in their loi\g route to tl\o bfain, you could not thus distinguish. 



198 THE XEEA^OUS SYSTEM. [183,184. 

the different organs are called the motor y nerves ; 
while those which bring back impressions which 
they receive are styled sensory nerves. If the sen- 
sory nerve leading to any part be cut, all sensation 
in that spot will be lost, Avhile motion will remain : 
if the motory nerve be cut, all motion will ^be de- 
stroyed, while sensation wi*i exist as before. 

Transfer of Pain. — Strictly speaking, pain is not 
in any organ, but in the mind, since only that can 
feel. AYhen any nerve brings news to the brain of 
an injury, the mind refers the pain to the end of 
the nerve. A familiar illustration is seen in the 
''funny bone"" behind the elbow. Here the nerve 
{ulnar) gives sensation to the third and fourth fin- 
gers, in which, if this bone be struck, the pain will 
seem to be. Long after a limb has been amputated, 
pain will be felt in it, as if it still formed a part of 
the body — any injury in the stump being referred to 
the point to which the nerve formerly led.* 

* Only about five per cent, of those wlio stifler amputation lose the 
feeling of the part taken away. There is something tragical, almost ghastly, 
in the idea of a spirit limb haunting a man through his life, and betraying 
him in unguarded moments into some effort, the failure of which suddenly 
reminds him of his loss. A gallant fellow, who had left an arm at Shiloh, 
once, when riding, attempted to use his lost hand to grasp the reins while 
with the other he struck his horse. A terrible fall was the result of his 
mistake. When the current of a battery is applied to the nerves of an 
arm-stump, the irritation is carried to the brain, and referred to aU. the 
regions of the lost limb. On one occasion a man's shoulder was thus elec- 
trized three inches above the point where the limb was cut off. For two 
years he had ceased to be conscious of his hmb. As the electric current 
passed through, the man, who had been profoundly ignorant of its possible 
effects, started up, crying, " Oh, the hand ! the hand ! " and tried to seize 
it with the living grasp of the sound fingers. ISJ'o resurrection of the 
dead could have been more startling.— Db. Mitchell on '•Phantom LimJ)s" in 
LippincotVs Magazine. 



184-186.] 



THE CEANIAL NERVES. 



199 




P, posterior root of a sinned nerve ; 
G, ganglion ; A, anterior root ; S, 
spinal nerve. The white portions of the 
figure represent the tvJiite fibers ; and 
the dark, the gray. 



The nerves are divided into three general classes 
— the spinal^ the cranial^ and the sympathetic. 

The Spinal Nerves, of 
which there are thirty-one ^^^' ''^' 

pairs, issue from the spinal 
cord through apertures 
provided for them in the 
backbone. Each nerve 
arises by two roots ; the 
anterior is the motory, and 
the posterior the sensory 
one. The posterior alone 

connects directly with the gray matter of the cord, 
and has a small ganglion of gray matter of its own 
at a little distance from its origin. These roots soon 
unite, /. e., are bound up in one sheath, though they 
preserve their special functions. When the posterior 
root of a nerve is cut, the animal loses the power of 
feeling, and when the anterior root is cut, that of 
motion. 

The Cranial Nerves, twelve pairs in number, 
spring from the lower part of the brain and the 
medulla oblongata. 

1. The olfactory, or first pair of nerves, rainifv tlii-(Mi.i;-h the 
nostrils, and are the nerves of smell. 

2. The optic, or second pair of nerves. ])ass [o the eyeballs, 
and are the nerves of vision. 

3. 4, 6. The tnotores oculi v<-\ve-niovtM-s) are three [i;iirs (M" 
nerves used to move the eyes. 

5. The tH-facial, or lifth ]\\\r o\' nerves. di\ide eaeli into 
three branches — hencu^ \\\o nnine: the lirst to the upper j)nrt of 
the face, eyes, and nose; the second to the upper jaw anil 



200 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



[185-187. 



teeth ; the third to the lower jaw and the mouth, where it 
forms the nerve of taste. These nerves are imphcated when we 
have the toothache or neuralgia. 

7. The facial, or seventh pair of nerves, are distributed over 
the face, and give it expression."-^ 

EiG. 55. 




The Brain and the origin of the twelve pairs of Cranial Nerves. F, E, the cere- 
brum ; D, the cerebellum, showing the arbor-vitce ; G, the eye ; H, the mednlla ob- 
longata ; A. the spinal cord ; C and B, the first two pairs of spinal nerves. 

8. The auditory, or eighth pair of nerves, go to the ears, and 
are the nerves of hearing. 

9. The glos-so-pha-ryn'-ge-Ojl, or ninth pair of nerves, are dis- 
tributed over the mucous membrane of the pharynx, tonsils, etc. 

10. The pneu^mo-gas^-tric, or tenth pair of nerves, preside 
over the larynx, lungs, liver, stomach, and one branch extends 



* If it is palsied, on one side there will be a blank, while the other 
side will laugh or cry, and the whole face will look funny indeed. There 
were some cruel people in the middle ages who used to cut the nerve and 
deform children's faces in this way, for the purpose of making money of 
them at shows. ^Tien this nerve was wrongly supposed to be the seat of 
neuralgia, or tic-douloureux, it was often cut by surgeons. The patient 
suffered many dangers, and no relief of pain was gained.— Mapothek. 



186, 187.] 



THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM 



201 



to the heart. This is the only nerve which goes so far from 
the head. 

11. The accessory, or eleventh pair of nerves, rise from the 
spinal cord, run up to the medulla oblongata, and thence leave 
the skull at the same opening with the ninth and tenth pairs. 
They regulate the vocal movements of the larynx. 

12, The hyp-o-glos'-sal, or twelfth pair of nerves, give motion 
to the tongue. 

Fig. 56. 




Spinal Nerves, Sympathetic Cord, and the Net-work of Si/nipafhedc Nerves aromui 
the Internal Organs. K, aorta ; A, oesophagus ; B, diaphragm ; C, stomach. 

The Sympathetic System contains the nerves of 
organic life. It consists of a double chain of gan-: 
glia on either side of the backbone, extending into 
the chest and abdomen. From these, delicate nerves, 
generally soft and of a grayish cc^lor, run to the 
organs on wliich life depends — the heari, hnigs, 



202 THE NEEVOUS SYSTEM. [187,188. 

stomach, etc. — ^to the blood-vessels, and to the spinal 
and cranial nerves over the body. Thus the entire 
system is bound together with cords of sympathy, so 
that, "if one member suffers, all the members suffer 
with it." 

Here lies the secret of the control exercised by 
the brain over all the vital operations. Every organ 
responds to its changing moods, especially those of 
respiration, circulation, digestion, and secretion, — proc- 
esses intimately linked with this system, and con- 
trolled by it. (See p. 330.) 

Crossing of Cords. — Each half of the body is pre- 
sided over, not by its own half of the brain, but that 
of the opposite side. The motory nerves, as they 
descend from the brain, in the medulla oblongata, 
cross each other to the opposite side of the spinal 
cord. So the motor-nerves of the right side of the 
body are connected with the left side of the brain, 
and vice versa. Thus a derangement in one half of 
the brain may paralyze the opposite half of the body. 
The nerves going to the face do not thus cross, and 
therefore the face may be motionless on one side, 
and the limbs on the other. Each of the sensory 
fibers of the spinal nerves crosses over to the oppo- 
site side of the spinal cord, and so ascends to the 
brain ; an injury to the spinal cord may, therefore, 
cause a loss of motion in one leg and of feeling in 
the other. 

Reflex Action. — Since the gray matter generates 
the nervous force, a ganglion is capable of receiving 
an impression, and of sending back or reflecting it 



188,189.] REFLEX ACTION". 203 

SO as to excite the muscles to action. This is done 
without the consciousness of the mind.* Thus we 
wink involuntarily at a flash of light or a threatened 
blow.f We start at a sudden sound. We jump back 
from a precipice before the mind has time to reason 
upon the danger. The spinal cord conducts certain 

* Instances of an unconscious working of the mind are abundant. 
An illustration, often quoted, is given, as follows, by Dr. Abercrombie, in 
his Intellectual Powers: 

"A lawyer had been excessively perplexed about a very complicated 
question. An opinion was required from him, but the question was one of 
such difficulty that he felt very uncertain how he should render it. The 
decision had to be given at a certain time, and he awoke in the morning 
of that day with a feeling of great distress. He said to his wife, 'I had a 
dream, and the whole thing was clearly arranged before my mind, and I 
would give any thing to recover the train of thought.' His wife said to 
him, 'Go and look on your table.' She had seen him get up in the night 
and go to his table and sit down and write. He did so, and found there 
the opinion which he had been most earnestly endeavoring to recover, lying 
in his own hand-writing. There was no doubt about it whatever." 

In this case the action of the brain was clearly automatic, i. e., reflex. 
The lawyer had worried his brain by his anxiety, and thus prevented his 
mind from doing its best. But it had received an impulse in a certain 
direction, and when left to itself, worked out the result. (See Appendix 
for other illustrations.) 

t A very eminent chemist a few years ago was making an expei'iment 
upon some extremely explosive compound which he had discovered. He 
had a small quantity of this compound in a bottle, and was holding it up 
to the light, looking at it intently; and whether it was a shake of the 
bottle or the warmth of his hand, I do not know, but it exploded in his 
hand, and the bottle was shivered into a million of minute fragments, 
which were driven in every direction. His first impression was, that they 
had penetrated his eyes, but to his intense relief he found presently that 
they had only strtick the oiitside of his eyelids. You may conceive how 
infinitesimally short the interval was between the explosion of the bottle 
and the pai-ticlos reaching his eyes; and yet in that interval the impression 
had been made upon his sight, the mandate of the reflex action, so to 
speak, had gone forth, the muscles of his eyelids had been called into 
action, and he had closed his eyelids before the particles had reached 
them, and in this manner his eyes were saved. You see what a wonderful 
proof this is of the way in which the autonuitic action o'^ our nervous ap- 
paratus enters into the sustenance of our lives, and tho protection of our 
niost important organs fi-oni injury. -Dk. ('.vkpenter, 



204 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. [189,190. 

impressions to the brain, but responds to others with- 
out troubhng that organ.* The meduUa oblongata 
carries on the process of respiration. The great 
sympathetic system binds togetlier ah the organs of 
the body. 

Uses of Reflex Action. — We breatlie eighteen 
times every minute ; we stand erect witliout a con- 
sciousness of effort ; f we walk, eat, digest, and at 
the same time carry on a train of thought. Our 
brain is thus emancipated from the petty detail of 
life. If we were obliged to attend to every breath, 
every pulsation of the heart, every wink of the eye, 
our time would be wasted in keeping alive. Mere 
standing would require our entire attention. Besides, 
an act which at first demands all our thought soon 
requires less, and at last becomes mechanical, J as 

* There is a story told of a man, who, ha^ang injui^ed his spinal cord, 
had lost feeling and motion in his lower extremities. Dr. John Hunter 
experimented npon him. Tickling his feet, he asked him if he felt it ; the 
man, pointing to his limbs, which were kicking ^dgorously about, answered, 
"ISTo, but yoii see my legs do." Ulustrations of this independent action of 
the spinal cord are common in animals. A headless wasp will ply its sting 
energetically. A fowl, after its head is cut off, will flap its wings and 
jump about as if in pain, although, of course, all sensation has ceased. "A 
water-beetle, having had its head removed, remained motionless as long as 
it rested on a dry surface, btit when cast into water, it executed the usual 
swimming motions with great energy and rapidity, striking all its comrades 
to one side by its violence, and persisting in these for more than half an 
hour.'" 

t In this way we account for the perilous feats performed by the som- 
nambulist. He is not conscious, as his operations are not directed by the 
cerebrum, but by the other nervous centers. Were he to attempt their 
repetition when awake, the emotion of fear raight render it impossible. 

t "As every one knows," says Huxley, "it jtakes a soldier a long time 
to learn his drill— for instance, to put himself into the attitude of ' atten- 
tion ' at the instant the word of command is heard. But, after a time, the 
sound of the word gives rise to the act, whether the soldier be thinking of 
it or not. There is a story, which is credible enough, though it may not 



l&0,19i.1 BIRAIN EXfiROiSE. 205 

we say, i. e., reflex. Thus we play a familiar tune 
upon an instrument and carry on a conversation at 
the same time. All the possibilities of an education 
and the power of forming habits are based upon 
this principle. No act we perform ends with itself. 
It leaves behind it in the nervous centers a ten^ 
dency to do the same thing again. Our physical 
being thus conspires to fix upon us the habits of a 
good or an evil life. Our very thoughts are written 
in our muscles, so that the expression of our face 
and even our features grow into harmony with the 
life we live. 

Brain Exercise. — The nervous system demands its 
life and activity. The mind grows by what it feeds 
on. One who reads mainly light literature, who lolls 
on the sofa or worries through the platitudes of an 
idle or fashionable life, decays mentally ; his system 
loses tone, and physical weakness follows mental 
poverty. On the other hand, an excessive use of the 
mind withdraws force from the body, whose weak- 
ness, reacting on the brain, produces gradual decay 
and serious diseases. (See p. 3 31.) 

The brain grows by the growth of the body. The 
body grows through good food, fresh air, and work 
and rest in suitable proportion. For the full develop- 
ment and perfect use of a strong mind, a strong- 
body is essential. Hence, in seeking to expand and 

bo true, of a, practical joker, who, seeing a dischaviivd votcM-ai\ oarr>in,u- 
liomo his dinner, suddenly called out 'Attention!' whereupon the nuin 
instantly broiight his hands down and lost his nuittou and potatoes in the 
gutter. The drill had been thorough, and its eU'ects had become embodied 
in th^ man's nervous structvire/' 



206 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. [101. 

store the intellect, we should be equalh^ thoughtful 
of the growth and health of the body. 

Sleep* is as essential as food. During the da}^, 
the process of tearing down goes on : during the 
night, the work of building up should make good 
the loss. In youth more sleep is needed than in old 
age, when nature makes few permanent repairs, and 
is content with temporary expedients. The number 
of hours required for sleep must be decided by each 
person. Napoleon took onh^ five hours, but most 
people need from six to eight hours, — brain-workers 
even more. In general, one should sleep until he 
naturally wakes. If one's rest be broken, it should 
be made up as soon as possible. (See p. 334.) 

Sunlight. — The influence of the sun's ra3^s upon 
the nervous S5'stem is very marked, f It is said also 



* Sleep procTired by medicine is rarely as beneficial as tbat secured 
natarally. The disturbance to tbe nervous system is often sufllcient to 
counterbalance all the good results. Tlie habit of seeking sleep in this 
way, without the advice of a physician, is to be most earnestly deprecated. 
The dose must be constantly increased to produce the effect, and thus great 
injury may be caused. Often, too, where laudanum or morphine is used, 
the person unconsciously comes into a terrible and fatal bondage. (See p. 
842.) Especially should infants never be dosed with cordials, as is a com- 
mon family practice. The damage done to helpless childhood by the igno- 
rant and reckless use of soothing syrups is frightful to contemplate. All 
the ordinary sleeping-draughts have life-destroying properties, as is proved 
by the fatal effects of an overdose. At the best, they paralyze the nerve 
centers, disorder the digestion, and poison the blood. Their promiscuous 
use is therefore full of danger. 

t The necessity of light for young children is not half appreciated. 
Many of their diseases, and nearly all the cadaverous looks of those brought 
up in great cities, are ascribable to the deficiency of light and air. When 
we see the glass-room of the photographers in every street, in the topmost 
story, we grudge them their application to what is often a mere personal 
vanity. Why should not a nursery be constructed in the same manner? 
If parents knew the value of light to the skin, especially to children of a 



191,192.] WONDERS OF THE BRAIIT. 207 

to have the effect of developing red disks in the 
blood. All vigor and activity come from the sun. 
Vegetables grown in subdued light have a bleached 
and faded look. An infant kept in absolute darkness 
would grow into a shapeless idiot. That room is the 
healthiest to which the sun has the freest access. 
Epidemics frequently attack the inhabitants of the 
shady side of a street, and exempt those on the 
sunny side. If, on a slight indisposition, we should 
go out into the open air and bright sunlight, instead 
of shutting ourselves up in a close, dark chamber, 
we might often avoid a serious illness. The sun- 
bath is doubtless a most efficient remedy 'for many 
diseases. Our window blinds and curtains should 
be thrown back and open, and we should let the 
blessed air and sun stream in to invigorate and 
cheer. No house buried in shade, and no room with 
darkened windows, is fit for human habitation. In 
damp and darkness, lies in wait almost every dis- 
ease to which flesh is heir. The sun is their only 
successful foe. (See p. 336.) 

Wonders of the Brain. — After having seen the 
beautiful contrivances and the exquisite delicacy of 
the lower organs, it is natural to suppose that when 
we come to the brain we should find the most elabo- 
rate machinery. How surprising, then, it is to have 



scx'ofulous tendency, we should have plenty of these glass-house uui'*;evies. 
where children might run aboiit in a proper temperature, free from nuioh 
of that clothing which at present seals up the skin— that groat supplement- 
ary lung— against sunlight and oxygen. They would save many a weakly 
child who now perishes fi^om lack of these necessai'ies of infant life.— Dr. 
Winter. 



^63 THE NERVOtJS SYSTEM. [192,193. 

revealed to us only cells and fibers ! The brain is 
the least solid and most unsubstantial looking organ 
in the body. Eighty per cent, of water, seven of 
albumen, some fat, and a few minor substances 
constitute the instrument which rules the world. 
Strangest of all, the brain, which is the seat of sen- 
sation, is itself without sensation. Every nerve, 
every part of the spinal cord, is keenly alive to the 
slightest touch, yet "the brain may be cut, burned, 
or electrified without producing pain." 



ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND NARCOTICS. 

ALCOHOL (Continued from p. 187). 

Effect upon the Nervous System. — In the pro- 
gressive influence of alcohol upon the nervous sys- 
tem, there are, according to the researches of Dr. 
Richardson, four successive stages. 

I. The stage of Excitement." — The first effect of alcohol, as 
we have already described on page 144, is to paralyze the nerves 
that lead to the extreme and minute blood-vessels, and so regu- 
late the passage of the blood through the capillary system. The 

* The pupil slLOuld be careful to note here that alcohol does not act 
upon the heart directly, and cause It to contract with more force. The idea 
that alcohol gives energy and activity to the muscles is entirely false. It 
really, as we have seen (p. 183), weakens muscular contraction. The en- 
feeblement begins in the first stage, and continues in the other stages with 
increased effect. The heart beats quickly inerely because the resistance of 
the minute controlling vessels is taken off, and it works without being 
under proper regulation. Wliat is called a stimulaUon or excitement is, in absolute 
fact, a relaxation, a partial paralysis of one of the most important mechanisms 
in the animal body. Alcohol should be ranked among the narcotics.— Rich- 
ardson". 



3.93,104.-] STAaE OF MlOlKTAL WEAKl^'ESS. 209 

vital force, thus drawn into the nervous centers, drives the 
machinery of hfe vv^ith tremendous energy. The heart jumps 
hke the main-spring of a watch wlien the resistance of the 
wheels is removed. The blood surges through the body with 
increased force. Every capillary tube in the system is swollen 
and flushed, like the reddened nose and cheek. 

In all this there is exhilaration, but no nourishment ; there 
is animation, but no permanent power conferred on brain or 
muscle. Alcohol may cheer for the moment. It may set the 
shiggish blood in motion, start the flow of thought, and excite 
a temporary gayety. "It may enable a wearied or feeble or- 
ganism to do brisk work for a short time. It may make the 
brain briefly brilliant. It may excite muscle to quick action, but 
it does nothing at its own cost, fills up nothing it has destroyed, 
and itself leads to destruction." Even the mental activity it has 
excited is an unsafe state of mind, for that just poise of the 
faculties so essential to good judgment is disturbed by the pres- 
ence of the intruder. Johnson well remarked, "Wine improves 
conversation by taking the edge off the understanding." 

2. The Stage of Muscular Weakness. — If the action of the 
alcohol be still continued, the spinal cord is next affected by 
this powerful narcotic. The control of some of the muscles is 
lost. Those of the lower lip usually fail first, then those of the 
lower limbs, and the staggering, uncertain steps betray the re- 
sult. The muscles themselves, also, become feebler as the power 
of contraction diminishes. The temperature, which, for a time, 
was slightly increased, soon begins to fall as the heat is radiated ; 
the body is cooled, and the well-knowm " alcohohc chill" is 
felt. 

3. The Stage of Mental Weakness. — The cerebrum is now 
implicated. The ideal and emotional faculties are quickened, 
while the will is weakened. The center of thought being over- 
powered, the mind is a chaos. Ideas flock in thick and fast. 
The tongue is loosened. The judgment loses its hold on the 
acts. The reason giving way, the animal instincts generally 
assume the mastery of the man. The liidden nature comes to 
the surface. All the gloss of education and social restraint falls 
off, and the lower nature stands revealed. The coward shows 
himself more craven, the braggart more boastful, the bold n\ore 



210 THE XERVOUS SYSTEM. [194,195. 

daring, and the cruel more brutal. The mebriate is hable to 
become the perpetrator of any outrage that the shghtest provo- 
cation may suggest. 

4. The Stage of Unconsciousness. — At last, prostration 
ensues, and the wild, mad revel of the di-unkard ends vvith 
utter senselessness. In common speech, the man is "'dead 
drunk." Brain and spinal cord are both benumbed. Fortu- 
nately, the two nervous centers which supply the heart and the 
diaphragm are the slowest to be influenced. So, even in this 
final stage, the breathing and the circulation still go on, though 
the other organs have stopped. Were it not for this, eveiy 
person thoroughly intoxicated would die.'^ 

Effect upon the Brain. — Alcohol seems to have a 
special affinity for the brain. This organ absorbs 
more than any other, and its delicate structure is 
correspondingly affected. The '"Vascular enlarge- 
ment" here reaches its height. Tlie 'tinj vessels 
become clogged Trith blood that is unfitted to nour- 
ish, because loaded vrith carbonic acid, and deprived 
of the usual quantity of the life-giving oxygen. — 
HiNTON. The brain is, in the language of the phys- 
iologist, malfunctioned. The mind but slowly rallies 
from the stupor of the fourth stage, and a sense of 
dullness and depression remains to show with what 

* Cold lias a wonderful influence in hastening tliis stage, so that a per- 
son, previously oiiiy in the first stage of excitement, on going out-doors on 
a winter night, may rapidly sink into a lethargy (become comatose), fall, and 
die. He is then commonly said to have perished with cold. The signs of 
this coma are of great practical importance, since so many persons die in 
police stations and elsewhere who are really comatose, when they are sup- 
posed to be only sound asleep. The pulse is slow, and almost imperceptible. 
The face is pale, and the sMn cold. "If the arm be pinched, it is not 
moved ; if the eyeballs are touched, the hds will not sink." The respiration 
becomes slower and slower, and, if the person dies, it is because liquid col- 
lects in the bronchial tubes, and stops the passage of the air. The man 
then actuallv drowns in his own secretions. 



195, 19(j.j EFFECT UPOK THE BRAIK. 211 

difficulty the fatigued organ recovers its normal con- 
dition. So marked is the effect of the narcotic 
poison, that some authorities hold that " a once thor- 
oughly-intoxicated brain never fully becomes what 
it was before." 

In time, the free use of liquor hardens and thick- 
ens the membrane enveloping the nervous matter ; 
the nerve-corpuscles undergo a ''Fatty degeneration"; 
the blood-vessels lose their elasticity ; and the vital 
fluid, flowing less freely through the obstructed 
channels, fails to afford the old-time nourishment. 
The consequent deterioration of the nervous sub- 
stance — the organ of thought — shows itself in the 
weakened mind * that we so often notice in a person 
accustomed to drink, and at last lays the foundation 
of various nervous disorders — epilepsy, paralysis, 
and insanity.f The law of heredity here again as- 
se^"ts itself, and the inebriate's children often inherit 
the disease which he has escaped. 

Chief among the consequences of this perverted 
and imperfect nutrition of the brain is that inter- 
mediate state between intoxication and insanitj^, well 
known as Delirium Tremens. "It is characterized 
by a low, restless activity of the cerebrum, man- 
ifesting itself in muttering delirium, with occasional 
paroxysms of greater violence. The victim almost 

* The habitual iisc of fornientod liquors, oven to nu exioiir I'ai" slunt of 
what is necessary to produce intoxication, injures the body, atui diminishes 
the mental power.— Sir Henry Thompson. 

t Caspor, the great statistician of Berlin, says: "So far a« that city is 
concerned, one third of the insane coming from the poorer elates, were 
made so by spirit-drinlving." 



212 THE ifERVOtJS SYSTEM. [196,19^. 

always apprehends some direful calamity ; lie imag- 
ines his bed to be covered with loathsome reptiles ; 
he sees the wails of his apartment crowded with 
fonl specters ; and he imagines his friends and at- 
tendants to be fiends come to drag him down to a 
fiery abyss beneath."— Caepein^tee. (See p. 287.) 

Influence upon the Mental and Moral Powers. — 
So intimate is the relation between the body and the 
mind, that an injury to one harms the other. The 
effect of alcoholized blood is to weaken the will. 
The one habitually under its influence often shocks 
us by his indecision and his readiness to break a 
promise to reform. The truth is, he has lost, in a 
measure, his power of self-control. At last, he be- 
comes physically unable to resist the craving demand 
of his morbid appetite. 

Other faculties share in this mental wreck. The 
intellectual vision becomes less penetrating, the de- 
cisions of the mind less reliable, and the grasp of 
thought less vigorous. The logic grows mudd}^ A 
thriftless, reckless feeling is developed. Ere long, 
self-respect is lost, and then ambition ceases to al- 
lure, and the high spirit sinks. 

Along with this mental deterioration comes also 
a failure of the moral sense. The fine fiber of char- 
acter undergoes a " degeneration " as certain as that 
of the muscles themselves. Broken promises tell of 
a lowered standard of veracity, and a dulled sense of 
honor, quite as much as of an impaired will. Under 
the subtle influence of the ever-present poison, signs 
of spiritual weakness multiply fast. Conscience is 



197,198.] EFFECT UPON THE BRAIN. 218 

luUad to rest. Reason is enfeebled. Customary 
restraints are easily thrown off. The sensibilities are 
blunted. There is less ability to appreciate nice 
shades of right and wrong. Great moral principles 
and motives lose their power to influence. The 
judgment fools with duty. The future no longer 
reaches back its hand to guide the present. The 
better nature has lost its supremacy.. 

The wretched victim of appetite will now gratify 
his tyrannical passion for drink at any expense of 
deceit or crime. He becomes the blind instrument 
of his insane impulses, and commits acts from which 
he would once have shrunk with horror.^" Some- 
times he even takes a malignant pleasure in injuring 
those whom Nature has ordained he should protect, f 

* Richardson sums up the various diseases caused by alcohol, as follows : 
"(ft). Diseases of the brain and nervous system, indicated by such names as 
apoplexy, epilepsy, paralysis, vertigo, softening of the brain, delirium tre- 
mens, dipsomania or inordinate craving for drink, loss of memory, and that 
general failure of the mental power, called dementia. (&). Diseases of the 
lungs : one form of consumption' congestion, and subsequent bronchitis. 
(c). Diseases of the heart : iri-egular beat, feebleness of the muscular walls, 
dilatation, disease of the valves, (d). Diseases of the blood : scurvy, excess 
of water or dropsy, separation of fibrin, (e). Diseases of the stomach : fee- 
bleness of the stomach, indigestion, flatulency, irritation, and sometimes in- 
flammation. {/). Diseases of the bowels: relaxation or purging, iri-itntion. 
((7). Diseases of the liver: congestion, hardening and shrinking, cirrhosis, 
(/i). Diseases of the kidneys : change of structure into fatty or waxy-like 
condition and other results leading to dropsy, or sometimes to fatal sleep. 
(i). Diseases of t]\e muscles : fatty change in the muscles, by which they 
lose their power for pi-oper active contractioza. (7). Diseases of the mem- 
branes of the body: thickening and loss of elasticity, by which the parts 
wrapped up in the membrane are impaired for use, and prematui'e decay 
is induced." 

t It has been argued that a man should not be punishod for any i-rinio 
he may commit during intoxication, but rather for knowingly giving up the 
reins of reason and conscience, and thus sub.iocting himself to tlie rule of 
his evil passions. Voluntarily to stinnilato the mind and put it into a con- 



214 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. [198,199. 



2. TOBACCO. 

The Constituents of Tobacco Smoke are numer- 
ous, but the prominent ones are carbonic acid, car- 
bonic oxide, and ammonia gases ; carbon, or soot ; 
and nicotine. The proportion of these substances 
varies with different kinds of tobacco, the pipe used, 
and the rapidity of the combustion. Carbonic acid 
tends to produce sleepiness and headache. Carbonic 
oxide, in addition, causes ~a tremulous movement of 
the muscles, and so of the heart. Ammonia bites 
the tongue of the smoker, excites the salivary glands, 
and causes drjmess of the mouth and throat. Mco- 
tine is a powerful poison. The amount contained in 
one or two strong cigars, if thrown directly into the 
blood, would cause death. Mcotine itself is complex, 
yielding a volatile substance that gives the odor to 
the breath and clothing ; and also a bitter extract 
which produces the sickening taste of an old pipe. 
In smoking, some of the nicotine is decomposed, 
forming pyridine, picoline, and other poisonous alka- 
loids.* 



dition where it may drive one to ruin, is very like the act of an engineer 
wlio should get up steam in his engine, and then, having opened the valves, 
desert his post, and let the monster go thundering down the track to sure 
destruction. Certain persons are thrown into the stage of mental weakness 
by a single glass of liquor. How can they be excused when the fact of their ^ 
peculiar liability lends additional force to the argument of abstemiousness, 
and they know that their only safety lies in total abstinence ?— Cakpenter''s 
Physiology. 

* The analysis of tobacco as given by different authorities varies greatly. 
The one stated in the text suffices for the purposes of this chapter. Von 
Eulenberg names several other products of the combustion. One hundred 
pounds of the dry leaf may yield as high as seven pounds of nicotine. Havana 



199, 200.J PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS. 215 

Physiological Effects. — The poison of tobacco, set 
free by the process either of chewing or smoking, 
when for the first time it is swept through the sys- 
tem by the blood, powerfully affects the body. 
Nausea is felt, and the stomach seeks to throw off 
the offending substance. The brain is inflamed, and 
headache follows. The motor-nerves becoming irri- 
tated, giddiness ensues. Thus Nature earnestly pro- 
tests against the formation of this habit. But, after 
repeated trials, the system adjusts itself to the new 
conditions. A " tolerance " of the poison is finally 
established, and smoking causes none of the former 
symptoms. Such powerful substances can not, how- 
ever, be constantly inhaled without producing marked 
changes. The three great eliminating organs — the 
lungs, the skin, and the kidneys — throw off a large 
part of the products, but much remains in the sys- 
tem. When the presence of the poison is constant, 
and especially when the smoking or chewing is ex- 
cessive, the disturbance that at first is merely func- 
tional, must necessarily, in many cases at least, lead 
to a chronic derangement. 

Probably in this, as in the case of other delete- 
rious articles of diet, the strong and healthy will 
seem to escape entirely, while the weak and those 
predisposed to disease will be injured in direc^t pro- 
portion to the extent of the indulgence. Those 
whose employment leads to active, out-door work, will 
show no sign of nicotine poisoning, while the man of 

tobacco contains about two per ct^nt., and Virij;inia about six pov cent. — See 
iToHKSTON & Church's Cfiemuifri/ of Commofi L{t'(\ and Mu.i.kk'!? Organic Cfumif:tn/, 



r 



216 THE ^'EEVOUS SYSTEM. [200,201. 

sedentar}^ habits will sooner or later be the \dctim of 
dyspepsia, sleeplessness, nervousness, paralysis, or 
other organic difficulties. Even vdiere the user of 
tobacco himself escapes harm, the la^v of heredity 
asserts itself, and the innocent offspring only too 
often inherit an impaired constitution, and a ten- 
dency to nervous complaints. 

The Various Disturbances x^roduced in different individuals 
and constitutions by smoking have been summed up by Dr. 
Richardson as follows: ''{a) In the blood, it causes undue fluid- 
itj', and change in the red corpuscles ; [o) in the stomach, it 
gives rise to debihty, nausea, and vomiting ; {c) in the mucous 
membrane of the mouth, it produces enlargement and soreness 
of the tonsils — smoker's sore throat — redness, dryness, and occa- 
sional peeling of the membrane, and either unnatural firmness 
and contraction, or sponginess of the gums ; and, where the 
pipe rests on the lips, oftentimes •' epithelial cancer ' ; {d) in the 
heart, it causes debility of the organ, and irregular action ; (e) 
in the bronchial surface of the lungs, when that is already irri- 
table, it sustams irritation, and increases the cough ; (/) in the 
organs of sense, it produces dilation of the pupils of the eye, 
confusion of vision, bright lines, luminous or cobweb specks, 
and long retention of images on the retina, with analogous" 
symptoms affecting the ear, viz., inability to define sounds 
clearly, and the occurrence of a sharp, ringing noise like a 
whistle ; {g) in the brain, it impairs the activity of the organ, 
oppressing it if it be nourished, but soothing it if it be ex- 
hausted ; (h) it leads to paralysis in the motor and sympathetic 
nerves, and to over-secretion from the glands which the sj^mpa- 
thetic ner^^es control." 

Is Tobacco a Food ? — Here, as in the case of al- 
cohol, the reply is a negative one. Tobacco manifests 
no characteristic of a food. It can not impart to the 
blood an afom^ of nutritive matter for building up 



201,202.] THE INFLUENCE UPON YOUTH. 217 

the body. It does not add to, but rather subtracts 
from, the total vital force. It confers no potential 
power upon muscle or brain. It stimulates by cutting 
off the nervous supply from the extremities and con- 
centrating it upon the centers. But stimulation is 
not nourishment ; it is only a rapid spending of the 
capital stock. There is no greater error than to mis- 
take the exciting of an organ for its strengthening. 

The Influence upon Youth. — Here, too, science 
utters no doubtful voice. Experience asserts only 
one conviction. Tobacco retards the development of 
mind and body^^ The law of nature is that of steady 
growth. It can not admit of a daily, even though it 
be merely a functional, disturbance that weakens the 
digestion, that causes the heart to labor excessively, 
that prevents the perfect oxidation of the blood, 
that interferes with the assimilation, and that de- 
ranges the nervous system, f No one has a right 

* Cigarettes are especially injurious from the irritating smoke of the 
paper covering, taken into the lungs, and also because the poison-fumes of 
the tobacco are more directly inhaled. In case of the cheap cigarettes often 
smoked by boys, the ingredients used are harmful, while one revolts at the 
thought of the filthy materials, refuse cigar-stiimps, etc., employed in their 
manufacture. 

t There is one influence of tobacco that every young man should un- 
derstand. In many cases, like alcohol, it seems to blunt the sensibilities, 
and to make its user careless of the rights and feelings of others. This is 
often noticed in common life. We meet every-where "devotees of the 
weed," who, ignoring the fact that tobacco is disagreeable to many pei"Sons, 
think only of the gratification of their selfish appetite. They smoke or 
chew in any place or company. They permit the cigar fumes to blow into 
the faces of passers-by. They sit where the wind carries the smoke of their 
pipes so that othera must inhale it. They expectorate upon the floor of 
cars, hotels, and even private homes. They take no pains to remove the 
odor that lingers about their person and clothing. They force all who 
liappen to be near, their companions, their fellow-travelei*s, to inhale the 
nauseating odor of tobacco. Every thing must bo saorifii>od to the one 



218 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. [202. 

thus to check and disturb continually the regular 
processes of his physical and mental progress. 
Hence, the young man (especially if he be of a 
nervous, sensitive organization) who uses tobacco de- 
liberately diminishes the possible energy with which 
he might commence the work of life ; * while he 
comes under the bondage of a habit that may be- 
come stronger than his will, and under the influence 
of a narcotic that may beguile his faculties and 
palsy his strength at the very moment when every 
power should be awake. 

Another peril still lies in the wake of this master- 
ful poison-habit. Tobacco causes thirst and depres- 
sion that only too often and naturally lead to the 
use of liquor. (See p. 338.) 

3. OPIUM. 

Opium is the dried juice of the poppy. In Eastern 
countries, this flower is cultivated in immense fields 

primal necessity of such persons— a smoke. Now, a young man just begin- 
ning life, with his fortune to make, and his success to achieve, can not 
afford to burden himself with a habit that is costly, that will make his 
presence offensive to many persons, and that may perhaps render him less 
sensitive to the best influences and perceptions of manhood. 

* In the Polytechnic School at Paris, the pupils were divided into two 
classes— the smokers, and the non-smokers. The latter not only excelled on 
the entrance examinations, but during the entire course of study. Dr. De- 
caisne examined thirty-eight boys who smoked, and found twenty-seven of 
them diseased from nicotine poisoning. So long ago as 1868, in consequence 
of these results, the Minister of Public Instruction forbade the use of to- 
bacco by the pupils. 

Dr. Grihon, medical director of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, in his 
report for 1881, says: "The most important matter in the health-history 
of the students is that relating to tobacco, and its interdiction is absolutely 
essential to their future health and usefulness. In this view I have been 
sustained by my colleagues, and by all sanitarians in civil and military 
life whose views I have been able to obtain." 



203,204.] PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECT. 219 

for the sake of this product. When a cut is made in 
the poppy-head, a tiny tear of milky juice exudes, 
and hardens. These little drops are gathered and 
prepared for the market, an acre yielding, it is said, 
about twenty-five pounds. Throughout the East, 
opium is generally smoked ; but in Western countries 
laudanum and paregoric (tinctures of opium), and 
morphine — a powerful alkaloid contained in opium, 
are generally used. The drug itself is also eaten. 

Physiological Effect. — Opium, in its various forms, 
acts directly upon the nerves, a small dose quieting 
pain, and a larger one soothing to sleep. It arouses 
the brain, and fires the imagination to a wonderful 
pitch.* The reaction from this unnatural excitant is 
correspondingly depressing ; and the melancholy, the 
" overwhelming horror " that ensues, calls for a re- 
newal' of the stimulus. The dose must be gradually 
increased to produce the original exhilaration.! The 

* So far as its effects are concerned, it matters little in what form 
opium is taken, whether solid as in pills, liquid as in laudanum, or vapor- 
ized, as when inhaled from a pipe. The opium slave is characterized by 
trembling steps, a curved spine, sunken glassy eyes, sallow withered feat- 
ures, and often by contraction of the muscles of the neck and fingers. In 
the East, when the drug ceases its influence, the opium-eater renews it ■v\'ith 
corrosive sxiblimate till, finally, this also fails of effect, and he gradually 
sinks into the grave. 

t The victim of opium is bound to a drug from which he derives no 
benefits, but which slowly deprives him of health and happiness, finally to 
end in idiocy or premature death. Whatever the victim's condition or 
surroundings may bo, the opium must be taken at certain times with in- 
exorable regularity. The liquor or tobacco user can, for a time, go without 
the use of these agents, and no regular hours are necessary. During sick- 
ness, and more especially during the eruptive fevers, he does not desire 
tobacco or liquor. The opium-eater has no STich reprieves; his dose nnist 
be taken, and, in painful complications aft'ecting the ston\aoh, a large iiv 
ci'oaso is demanded to sustain the system. If, in forming tho habit, two 
doses are taken each day, the victim is obliged to maintain that number. 



220 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. ^ [203,204. 

seductive nature of the drug leads the unfortunate 
victim on step by step until he finds himself fast 
bound in the fetters of one of the most tyrannical 
habits known to man. 

To go on is to wreclc all one's powers — physical 
and mental. To throw off the habit, requires a de- 
termination that but few possess. Yet even when 
the custom is broken, the system is long in recover- 
ing from the shock. There seem_s to be a failure of 
every organ. The digestion is weakened, food is no 
longer relished, the muscles waste, the skin shrivels, 
the nervous centers are paralyzed, and a premature 
old age comes on apace. De Quincey, four months 
after he had cast away the opium-bonds, wrote, 
" Think of me as one still agitated, writhing, throb- 
bing, palpitating, shattered." 

No person can be too careful in the use of lau- 
danum, paregoric, and morphine. They may be 
taken on a physician's prescription as a sedative 
from racking pain,* but if followed up for any 

It is the unceasing, everlasting slavery of regularity that humiliates opium- 
eaters by a sense of their own weakness.— Hubbard on The Opium Habit and 
Alcoholism. 

* Many persons learn to inject morphine beneath the skin by means 
of a "hjT)odermic syringe." The operation is painless, and seems an inno- 
cent one. It throws the narcotic directly into the circulation, and relief 
from pain is often almost instantaneous. But the danger of forming the 
opium habit is not lessened, and the effect of using the drug in this form 
for a long time is just as injurious as opium-smoking itself. "Opium in 
one of its forms enters largely into the composition of many of the pain- 
killers and patent medicines so freely advertised for domestic u^e in the 
present day, and for this reason the greatest care is needed in having 
recourse to any of them. Taken, perhaps, in the first instance, to alleviate 
the torments of neuralgia or toothache, what proves to be a remedy soon 
becomes a source of gratification, which the wretchedness that follows on 
abstinence renders increasingly difficult to lay aside. The same must be 



204,205.] CHLORAL HYDRATE. 221 

length of time, the powerful habit may be formed 
ere one is aware. Then comes the opium-eater's 
grave, or the opium-eater's struggle for life ! 

4. CHLORAL HYDRATE. 

Chloral Hydrate is a drug frequently used to 
cause sleep. It leaves behind no headache or lassi- 
tude, as is often the case with morphine. It is, how- 
ever, a treacherous remedy. It is cumulative in its 
effects, i. a, even a small and harmless dose, per- 
sisted in for a long period, may produce a gradual 
accumulation of evil results that in the end will 
prove fatal. 

The Physiological Effect of its prolonged use is 
very marked. The appetite becomes capricious. The 
secretions are unnatural. Nausea and flatulency 
often ensue. Then the nervous system is involved. 
The heart is affected. Sleep, instead of responding 
to the drug, as at first, is broken and disturbed. The 
eyesight fails. The circulation is enfeebled, and the 
pulse becomes weak, rapid, and irregular. There is 
a tendency to fainting and to difficult respiration. 
Sometimes the impoverished blood induces a disease 

said of bromide of potassium and hydrate of cliloral, frequently resorted to 
as a remedy for sleeplessness : the system quickly becomes habituated to 
their use, and they can then bo relinquished only at the cost of much suf- 
fering. Indeed, the last mentioned of these two drugs obtains over the 
mind a power which may be compared to that of opium, and is, nioreover, 
liable to occasion the disease known as chloralism, by which the system 
ultimately becomes a complete wreck. Looking at the whole question of 
the medicinal use of narcotics, it is perhaps not toi^ much to say that they 
should never be employed except with the authority of a competent mediciU 
adviser.— r//(//;(^>(7',s"' Journal. 



222 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, [205,206. 

resembling scurvy, the ends of the fingers ulcerate, 
and the face is disfigured by blotclies. An excessive 
dose may result in death. 

Prolonged habitual use of chloral hydrate tends to 
debase the mind and morals of the subject in the same 
manner as indulgence in alcohol, ether, or chloroform. 

5. CHLOROFORM. 

Chloroform is an artificial product generally ob- 
tained, by distillation, from a mixture of chloride of 
lime, water, and alcohol. It was discovered in 1831 
by Samuel Gruthrie, of Sackett's Harbor, New York. 
It is a colorless, transparent volatile liquid, with a 
strong ethereal odor. 

Physiological Effect, — Chloroform is a powerful 
anaesthetic, which, when inhaled, causes a temporary 
XJaralysis of the nervous system, and thus a complete 
insensibiiit}^ to pain. There is great peril attending 
its use, even in the hands of the most skillful and 
experienced practitioners. It is sometimes prescribed 
by a physician, and afterward (as in the case of lau- 
danum, morphine, and chloral) the sufferer, charmed 
with the release from pain and the peaceful slumber 
secured, buys the Lethean liquid for himself. Its 
use soon becomes an apparent necessity. The crav- 
ing for the narcotic at a stated time is almost irre- 
sistible. The patient, compelled to give up the use 
of chloroform, will demand, entreat, pray for another 
dose, in a heart-rending manner, never to be for- 
gotten. Paleness and debility, the earliest symp- 
toms, are followed by mental prostration. Famil- 



206,207.] COCAINE. 228 

iarity with this dangerous drug begets carelessness, 
and its victims are frequently found dead in their 
beds, with the handkerchief from which they inhaled 
the volatile poison clutched in their lifeless hands. 

6. COCAINE. 

Cocaine is an alkaloid prepared from the ery- 
throxylon coca, a shrub, five or six feet high, found 
wild in the mountainous regions of Ecuador and 
Peru, where it is also cultivated by the natives. The 
South American Indians, for centuries, have chewed 
coca leaves as a stimulant, but the highly poisonous 
principle, now called cocaine, to which the plant 
owes its peculiar effects, was not discovered till 
1859. Within a few years this drug has come into 
favor as an agent to produce local anaesthesia, and 
has proved exceedingly valuable in surgical opera- 
tions upon the eye and other sensitive organs. It 
has already, however, been diverted from its legiti- 
mate use as a benefaction, and to the other evils 
of the day is now added the "cocaine habit," which 
is, perhaps, even more dangerous and difficult to 
abandon than either the alcohol or the opium habit. 

Physiological Effect. — Applied locally, cocaine 
greatly lessens and even annihilates pain. Taken 
internally, it acts as a powerful stimulant to the 
nervous system, its physiological action being simi- 
lar to that of theine (p. 170), caffeine, and theo- 
bromine. Used hypodermicall}^, its immediate effect, 
says one to whom it was thus adiniuistoixHb is to 
cause "great pallor of countenance, profuse frontal 



224 THE XERVOUS SYSTEM. [207,208. 

perspiration, sunken eyes, enlarged pupils, lessened 
sensitiveness of the cornea and conjunctiva, lowered 
arterial tension, and a feeble pulse and heartbeat. 
Under its influence I could not reason. Everv thine: 
seemed to run through my brain, and in vain I 
summoned all my will-power to overcome an over- 
whelming sleepiness." A few doses of this drug will 
in some persons produce temporary insanity. Used 
to excess, it leads to permanent madness or idiocy. 
"Cocaine," says a writer in the Medical Review, "is 
a dangerous therapeutic toy not to be used as a 
sensational plaything. If it should come into as 
general use as the other intoxicants of its class, it 
will help to fill the asylums, inebriate and insane." 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 

1. Why is the pain of incipient h.ip-disease frequently felt in tlie 
knee? 

2. Wliy does a child reqiiire more sleep tlian an aged person? 

3. Wlien you put your finger in the palm of a sleeping child, why will 
he grasp it? 

4. How may we strengthen the brain? 

5. What is the object of pain? 

6. Why will a blow on the stomach sometimes stop the hear.? 

7. How long will it take for the brain of a man six feet high to receive 
news of an injury to his foot, and to reply? 

8. How can we grow beautiful? 

9. Why do intestinal worms sometimes affect a child's sight? 

10. Is there any indication of character in physiognomy? 

11. When one's finger is burned, where is the ache? 

12. Is a generally -closed parlor a healthful room? 

13. Why can an idle scholar read his lesson and at the same time count 
the marbles in his pocket? 

14. In amputating a limb, what part, when divided, will cause the 
keenest pain? 

15. What is the effect of bad air on nervous people ? 

16. Is there any truth in the proverb that "he who sleeps dines"? 



308-210,] PRACTICAL QUESTlOl^S. 225 

17. What does a high, wide forehead indicate? 

18. How does indigestion frequently cause a headache? 

19. What is the cause of one's foot being "asleep"?* 

20. When an injury to the nose has been remedied by transplanting 
skin from the forehead, why is a touch to the former felt in the latter? 

21. Are closely-curtained windows healthful? 

22. Why, in falling from a height, do the limbs instinctively take a po- 
sition to defend the important organs? 

23. What causes the pylorus to open and close at the right time? 

24. Why is pleasant exercise most beneficial? 

25. Why does grief cause one to lose his appetite? 

26. Why should we never study directly after dinner? 

27. What produces the peristaltic movement of the stomach? 

28. Why is a healthy child so restless and full of mischief? 

29. Why is a slight blow on the back of a rabbit's neck fatal? 

30. Why can one walk and carry on a conversation at the same time? 
pi. What are the dangers of over-study? 

32. What is the influence of idleness upon the brain? 

33. State the close relation which exists between physical and mental 
health and disease. 

34. In what consists the value of the power of habit? 

35. How many pairs of nerves supply the eye? 

36. Describe the reflex actions in reading aloud. 

37. Under what circumstances does paralysis occur? 

38. If the eyelids of a profound sleeper were raised, and a candle brought 
near, would the iris contract? 

39. How does one cough in his sleep? 

40. Give illustrations of the unconscious action of the brain. 

41. Is chewing tobacco more injurious than smoking? 

42. Ought a man to retire from business while his facilities are still un- 
impaired ? 

43. Which is the more exhaustive to the bi*ain, worry or severe mental 
application ? 

44. Is it a blessing to be placed beyond the necessity for work? 

45. Show how anger, hate, and the other degrading passions are de- 
structive to the brain, t 



* Here the nervous force is prevented from passing by ooniprossion. Jnst how this 
is done, or what is kept from passing, we can not tell. If a current of electricity wore 
moving through a rubber tube full of mercury, a slight squeeze would interrupt it. 
These cases may depend on the same general principle, but we can not assert it.— Hux- 
ley. The tingling 8t>nsatlon caused by the compression is transferred to tlio foot, 
whence the nerve starts. 

t '' One of the surest means for keeping the body and mind in pevlVct health consists 
in learning to hold the passions in subservience to tlio reasoning faculties. This rule 
applies to every passion. Man, distinguished from all other animals by the peculiarity 



226 THE XERVOUS SYSTEM. [210. 

46. Are not amusements, to repair tlie waste of tlie nervous energy. 
esi)ecially needed by persons whose life is one of care and toil? 

47. Is not severe mental labor incompatible with, a rapidly-growing 
body? 

48. How shall we induce the system, to perform all its functions regu- 
larly'? 

49. How does alcohol interfere with the action of the nerves'? 

50. What is the general effect of alcohol upon the character? 

51. Does alcohol tend to produce clearness and rigor of thought"? 

52. "What is the general effect of alcohol on the muscles'? 

53. Does alcohol hare any effect on the bones '? The skin '? 

54. What is the cause of the "alcoholic chill""? 

55. Show how alcohol tends to develop man's lower, rather than his 
higher, nature. 

56. When we wish really to strengthen the brain, should we use al- 
cohol ■? 

57. Why is alcohol used to preserve anatomical specimens? 

58. What is meant by an inherited taste for liquor ? 

59. Ought a person to be punished for a crime committed during intox- 
ication "? 

60. Should a boy ever smoke? 

61. To what extent are we responsible for the health of our body"? 

62. Why does alcohol tend to collect in the brain "r 

63. Does the use of alcohol tend to increase crime and poverty? 



that hi* reason is placed above his passions lo be the director of his will, can protect 
himself from every mere animal degradation resulting from passionate excitement. The 
education of the man should be directed not to suppress such passions as are ennobling, 
but to bring all under governance, and specially to subdue those most destructive pas- 
sions, anger, hate, and fear." 



VIII. 

The Special Senses 



" See how yon beam of seeming white 
Is braided out of seven-hued light ; 
Yet in those lucid globes no ray- 
By any chance shall break astray. 
Hark, how the rolling surge of sound, 
Arches and spirals circling round. 
Wakes the hush'd spirit through thine ear 
With music it is heaven to hear." 

Holmes. 

"Let us remember that if we get a glimpse of the details of natural 
phenomena, and of those movements which constitute life, it is not in con- 
sidering them as a whole, but in analyzing thera as far as our limited means 
will permit. In the vibrations of the globe of air which surrounds our 
planet, as in the undulations of the ether which fills the immensity of space, 
it is always by molecules which are intangible for us, put in motion by 
nature, always by the infinitely little, that she acts in exciting the organs of 
sense, and she has modeled these organs in a proportion which enables them 
to partake in the movement which she impresses upon the universe. She 
can paint with equal facility on a fraction of a line of space on the retina, 
the grandest landscape or the nervelets of a rose-leaf ; the celestial vault on 
which Sirius is but a luminous point, or the sparkling dust of a butterfly's 
wing : the roar of the tempest, the roll of thunder, the echo of an avalanche, 
find equal place in the labyrinth whose almost imperceptible cavities seem 
destined to receive only the most delicate sounds." 



ANALYSIS OF THE SPECIAL SENSES. 



1. The Touch. 



2. The Taste. 



3. The Smell. 



1. Description of the Organ. 

2. Its Uses. 



I J: 



Description of the Organ. 

Its Uses. 



■I 



4. The Hearing 



5. The Sight.. 



1. Description of the Organ. 

2. Its Uses. 

_, T^ ... „ ,, fa. External Ear. 

1. Description of the ! , t,^. ,,, -r^ 

^ \ b. Middle Ear. 



Organ 

2. How we hear. 
L3. Hygiene of the Ear, 



ic. 



Internal Ear. 



'1. Description of the Organ. 

2. Eyelids, and Tears. 

3. Structure of the Retina. 

4. How we see. 

5. The Use of' the Crystalhne Lens. 

6. Near and Far Sight. 

7. Color-bhndness. 

8. Hygiene of the Eyes. 



THE SPECIAL SENSES. 

1. TOUCH. 

* 

Description. — Touch is sometimes called the 
"common sense," since its nerves are spread over the 
whole body. It is most delicate, however, in the 
point of the tongue and the tips of the fingers. The 
surface of the cutis is covered with minute, conical 
projections called papiUoe (Fig. 24).* Each one of 
these papillae contains its tiny nerve-twigs, which 
receive the impression and transmit it to the brain, 
where the perception is produced. 

Uses. — Touch is the first of the senses used by a 
child. By it we obtain our idea of solidity, and 
throughout life rectify all other sensations. Thus, 
when we see any thing curious, our first desire is to 
handle it. 

The sensation of touch is generally relied upon, 
yet, if we hold a marble in the manner shown in 
Fig. 57, it will seem like two marbles; and if we 
touch the fingers thus crossed to our tongue, Ave 
shall seem to feel two tongues. Again, if we close 
our eyes and let another person move one oi our 
fingers over a plane surface, first lightly, tluMi with 

* 111 the palm of the hand, whoro thoiv aiv at least twelve thousaml in 
a square ineh, wo can see the line ridges along whieh they are arraiiged. 



230 



THE S P E C- 1 A L S E X S E S . 



[212-214. 



greater pressure, and then lightly again, we shall 
think the surface concave. 



Fig. 5 




This organ is capable of wonderful cultivation. 
The physician acquires by practice the tactus erudi- 
tus. or learned touch, vdiich is often of great service, 
while the delicacy of touch possessed by the blind 
almost Compensates the loss of the absent sense.* 
(See p. 84H.) 

2. TASTE. 

Description. — This sense is located in the papillee 
of the tongue and palate. These papillae start up 
when tasting, as you can see by placing a drop, of 
^dnegar on another person's tongue, or your own 
before a mirror. The velvety look of this organ is 
given by hair-like projections of the cuticle upon 



* The sympathy between the different organs shows how they all com- 
bine to make a home for the mind. When one sense fails, the others en- 
deavor to remedy the defect. It is touching to see how the blind man gets 
along without eyes, and the deaf without ears. Cuthbert, though blind, was 
the most efllcient polisher of telescopic mirrors in London. Satmderson, the 
successor of Xewton as professor of mathematics at Cambridge, could dis- 
tinguish between real and spurious medals. There is an instance recorded 
of a blind man who could recognize colors. The author knew one who could 
tell when he was approaching a tree, by what he described as the " different 
feeling of the air." 



213, 214.] 



TASTE. 



281 



some of the papillae. They absorb the hquid to be 
tasted, and convey it to the nerves.* The back of 



Fig. 58. 




th. J!!' ^''T!' '^''"''''^ ^^'' ^^'■'^ ^'"'^' ^^' P^m^^-t^ie conical (D), the whip^e rX T) 
the, cvrcmnvallate or entrenched (H, L) ; E, P, a, nerves ; C, W^^.s^-LAXKE^^^^^^^ ^^' 

the tongue is most sensitive to salt and bitter sub- 
stances, and, as this part is supplied bv the ninth 
pair of nerves (Fig. 56), in sympathy Avith the stom- 
ach, such flavors, by sympathy, often produce totu- 
itmg. The edges of the tongue are most sensitive to 
sweet and sour substances, and as this part is sup- 

* An insoluble substance is therefore tasteless. 



232 THE SPECIAL SENSES. [214-216. 

plied by tlie fifth pair of nerves, which also goes to 
the face, an acid, by sympathy, distorts the counte- 
nance. 

The Use of the Taste was originally to guide in 
the selection of food ; but this sense has become so 
depraved by condiments and the force of habit that 
it would be a difficult task to tell what are one's 
natural tastes. 

3. SMELL.* 

Description. — The nose, the seat of the sense of 
smell, is composed of cartilage covered with muscles 
and skin, and joined to the skull by small bones. 
The nostrils open at the back into the pharynx, and 
are lined by a continuation of the mucous membrane 
of the throat. The olfactory nerves (first pair, Fig. 55) 
enter through a sieve-like, bony plate at the roof of 
the nose, and are distributed over the inner surface 
of the two olfactory chambers. (See p. 346.) The 
object to be smelled need not touch the nose, but tiny 
particles borne on the air enter the nasal passages. f 

* The sense of smell is so intimately connected with, that of taste that 
we often fail to distinguish between them. G-aiiic, vanilla, coffee and various 
spices, which seem to have such distinct taste, have really a powerful odor, 
but a feeble flavor. 

t Three quarters of a grain of musk placed in a room will cause a 
powerful smell for a considerable length of time without any sensible dim- 
inution in weight, and the box in which musk has been placed retains the 
perfume for almost an indefinite period. Haller relates that some papers 
which had been perfumed by a grain of ambergris, were still very odorif- 
erous after a lapse of forty years. Odors are transported by the air to a 
considerable distance. A dog recognizes his master's approach by smell 
even when he is far away; and we are assured by navigators that the 
winds bring the delicious odors of the balmy forests of Ceylon to a distance 
of ten leagues from the coast. Even after making due allowance for the 
effects of the imagination, it is certain that odors act as an excitant on the 



215, 216.] 




233 



" A, b, c, d, interior of the nose, zvhich is lined t)y a mucous membrane ; n, the nose ; 
e, the wing of the nose ; q, the nose bones ; o, the upper lip ; g, section of the- upper jaw- 
bone ; h, the upper part of the mouth, or hard palate ; m, frontal bone of the skull ; k, 
the ganglion or bulb of the olfactory nerve in the skull, from which are seen the branches 
of the nerve passing in all directions. 

The Uses of the sense of smell are to guide us in 
the choice of our food, and to warn us against bad 
air, and unhealthy localities. (See p. 348.) 



brain, which may be dangerous when long continued. They are especially 
dreaded by the Roman woraen. It as well known that in ancient times the 
women of Rome indulged in a most immodei'ate use of baths and perfumes ; 
but those of our times have nothing in common with them in this respect 
and the words of a lady are quoted, who said on admiring an artificial ix>se, 
"It is all the more beautiful that it has no smell." "\Ve are warned by the 
proverb not to discuss colors or tastes, and we may add odoi*s also. Men 
and nations differ singularly in this respect. The Laplander and the Es- 
quimaux find the smell of fish-oil delicious. Wrangol saj-s his compatriots, 
the Russians, are very fond of the odor of pickled cabbage, which fornis an 
important part of their food ; and asafootida, it is said, is iised as a condi- 
ment in Pcrsiai, and, in spite of its name, there ai*e pei'sous who do not find its 
odor djsagrooablo ;iny more than that of valerian.— Tr()/((/«7-.< of tht Human body. 



234 



THE SPECIAL SENSES. 



[216, 217. 



4. HEARING. 



Description. — The ear is divided into the external., 
middle, and internal ear. 

1. The External Ear is a sheet of cartilage curi- 
ously folded for 
^^»- ^0' catching sound. 

The auditory canal, 
B, or tube of this 
e a r -t r u ni p e t , is 
about an inch long. 
Across the lower 
end is stretched the 
memhrane of the 
tympanum or drum, 
which is kept soft 
by a fluid wax. 

2. The Middle 
Ear is a cavity, at 
the bottom of 
which is the Eustachian tube, G, leading to the 
mouth. Across this chamber hangs a chain of three 
singular little bones, (7, named from their shape the 
hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup. All together 
these tiny bones weigh only a few grains, yet they 
are covered by a periosteum, are supplied with blood- 
vessels, and they articulate with perfect joints (one 
a ball-and-socket, the other a hinge), having synovial 
membranes, cartilages, ligaments, and muscles. 

3. The Internal Ear, or labyrinth, as it is some- 
times called from its complex character, is hollowed 




TTve Ear. 



217,218.] HEARING. 235 

out of the solid bone. In front, is the vestibule or 
ante-chamber, A, about as large as a grain of wheat; 
from it open three semicircular canals^ B, and the 
winding stair of the cochlea, or snail shell, E. Here 
expand the delicate fibrils of the auditory nerve. 
Floating in the liquid which fills the labyrinth is 
a little bag containing hair-like bristles, fine sand, 
and two ear-stones {otoliths). All these knocking 
against the ends of the nerves, serve to increase any 
impulse given to the liquid in which they lie. Fi- 
nally, to complete this delicate apparatus, in the 
cochlea are minute tendrils, named the fibers of 
Corti, from their discoverer. These are regularly 
arranged, — the longest at the bottom, and the short- 
est at the top. Could this spiral plate, which coils 
two and a half times around, be unrolled and made 
to stand upright, it would form a beautiful micro- 
scopic harp of three thousand strings. If it were 
possible to strike these cords as one can the key- 
board of a piano, he could produce in the mind of 
the person experimented upon every variety of tone 
which the ear can distinguish. 

How We Hear. — Whenever one body strikes an- 
other in the air, waves are produced, just as when 
we throw a stone into the water a series of con- 
centric circles surrounds the spot where it sinks. 
These waves of air strike upon the niombrane. This 
vibrates, and sends the motion along the chain of 
bones in the middle ear to the fiuids of the laby- 
rinth. Here bristles, sand, and stones ponnd away. 
and the wondrous harp of the cochlea, catching up 



236 THE SPECIAL SE^'SES. [218,219. 

the pulsations,* carries them to the fibers of the au- 
ditory nerve, which conA^eys them to the brain, and 
gives to the mind the idea of sound. 

Care of the Ear. — Tlie delicacy of the ear is such 
that it needs the greatest care. Cold water should 
not be allowed to enter the auditory canal. If the 
wax accumulate, never remove it with a hard instru- 
ment, lest the delicate membrane be injured, but 
with a little warm water, after which turn the head 
to let the water run out, and wipe the ear dry. The 
hair around the ears should never be left wet, as it 
may chill this sensitive organ. If an insect get in 
the external ear, pour in a little oil to kill it, and 
then remove with tepid water. The object of the 
Eustachian tube is to admit air into the ear, and 
thus equalize the pressure on the membrane. If it 
become closed by a cold, or if, from any cause, the 
pressure be made unequal, so as to produce an un- 
pleasant feeling in the ear, relief may often be ob- 
tained by grasping the nose and forcibly swallowing. 
(See p. 350.) 

5. SIGHT. 

Description. — The eye is lodged in a bony cavity, 
protected by the overhanging brow. It is a globe, 
about an inch in diameter. The ball is covered by 

* The original motion is constantly modified by the medinm through 
which it passes. The "bristles, otoliths, and Cortian fibers of the ear, and 
the rods and cones of the eye (p. 239) serve to convert the vibrations into 
pulsations which act as stimuli of the appropriate nerve. The molecular 
change thus produced in the nerve-fibers is propagated to the brain.— 
See Popular Physics, p. 182, 



219, 220.] 



SIGHT. 



23T 



three coats — (1) the sclerotic, d, a tough, horny casing, 
which gives shape to the eye, the convex, trans- 
parent part in front forming a window, the cornea, c; 




The Eye. 

(2) the choroid, e, a black hning, to absorb the super- 
fluous light;* and (3) the retina, h, a membrane in 
which expand fibers of the optic nerve, o. The crys- 
talline lens, a, brings the rays of light to a focus on 
the retina. The lens is kept in place by the ciliary 
processes, //, arranged like the rays in the disk of a 
passion-flower. Between the cornea and the crys- 
talline lens is a limpid fluid termed the aqneons 
hu)})o}': while the ribvoiis liunioi' — a transparent, 

* Neither white rabbits nor albinos ha\i> this black liniuj;. and honoo 
theii- sight is confiised. 



238 



THE SPECIAL SENSES, 



[220, 221. 



Fig. 62. 




jelly-like liquid — fills the space {h) back of the crys- 
talline lens. The pupil, yfc, is a hole in the colored, 
muscular curtain, i, the iris (rainbow). (See p. 352.) 
Eyelids and Tears. — The eyelids are close-fitting 

shutters to screen the 
eye. The inner side is 
lined with a mucous 
membrane that is ex- 
ceedingly sensitive, 
and thus aids in pro- 
tecting the eye from 
any irritating sub- 
stance. The looseness 
of the skin favors 
swelling from inflam- 
mation or the effusion 
• of blood, as in a "black 

eye." The eyelashes serve as a kind of sieve to ex- 
clude the dust, and, with the lids, to shield against 
a blinding light. Just within the lashes are oil 
glands, which lubricate the edges of the lids, and 
prevent them from adhering to each other. The 
tear or lachrymal gland, G, is an oblong body lodged 
in the bony wall of the orbit. It empties by several 
ducts upon the inner surface, at the outer edge of 
the upper eyelid. Thence the tears, washing the eye, 
run into the lachrymal lake, D, a little basin with a 
rounded border fitted for their reception. On each 
side of this lake two canals, (7, C, drain off the 
overplus through the duct, B, into the nose. In 
old age and in disease, these canals fail to conduct 



TTie Eyelashes and the Tear-glands. 



221, 222.] 



STEUCTURE OF THE RETINA. 



239 



3 is shown a 



Tig. 63. 



the tears away, and hence the lachrymal lake over- 
flows upon the face. 

Structure of the Retina. — In. Fig. 
section of the retina, greatly mag- 
nified, since this membrane never 
exceeds gV of an inch in thickness. 
On the inner surface next to the 
vitreous humor, is a lining mem- 
brane not shown in the cut. Next 
to the choroid and comprising about 
J- the entire thickness of the retina, 
is a multitude of transparent, color- 
less, microscopic rods, a, evenly ar- 
ranged and packed side by side, 
like the seeds on the disk of a 
sunflower. Among them, at regular 
intervals, are interspersed the cones, 
6. Delicate nerve fibers pass from 
the ends of the rods and cones, 
each expanding into a granular 
body, c, thence weaving a mesh, d, 
and again expanding into the gran- 
ules, /. Last is a layer of fine 
nerve-fibers, g, and gray, ganglionic cells, h, like the 
gray matter of the brain, whence filaments extend 
into ^, the fibers of the optic nerve. (See p. 35-4.) 

The layer of rods and cones is to the eye what 
the bristles, otoliths, and Cortian fibers are to the 
ear. Indeed, the nerve itself is insensible t(^ light. 
At the point where it outers the eye, there are no 
rods and cones, and this is called the blind .^-/x)/. A 




structure of the Setina. 



240 THE SPECIAL gE>fSES, [222,223, 

simple experiment will illustrate the fact Hold this 
book directly before the face, and, closing the left 
eye, look steadily with the right at the left-hand 
circle in Fig. 64. Move the book back and forth, 

Fig. 64. 




and a point will be found where the right-hand 
circle vanishes from sight. At that moment its 
light falls upon the spot where the rods and cones 
are lacking. 

How We See. — There is believed to be a kind of 
universal atmosphere, termed ether, filling all space. 
This substance is infinitely more subtle than the air, 
and occupies its pores, as well as those of all other 
substances. As sound is caused by waves in the 
atmosphere, so light is produced by waves in the 
ether. A lamp-light, for example, sets in motion 
waves of ether, which pass in through the pupil 
of the eye, to the retina, where the rods and cones 
transmit the vibration through the optic nerve to 
the brain, and then the mind perceives the light. 
(Note. p. 236.) 

The Use of the Crystalline Lens.* — A convex 
lens, as a common burning-glass, bends the rays of 

* The uses of tlie eye and ear are dependent upon tlie principles of Op- 
tics and Acoustics. They are therefore best treated in Physics. 



223,224.1 NEAR AND FAR SIGHT. 241 

light which pass through it, so that they meet at a 
point called the focus. The crystalline lens con- 
verges the rays of light which enter the eye, and 

Fig. 65. 




Diagram slwwing how an image of an object is formed upon the Retina by the 
Crystalline Lens. 

brings them to a focus on the retina.*. The healthy 
lens has a power of changing its convexity so as 
to adapt t itself to near and to distant objects. (See 
Fig. Q(d.) 

Near and Far Sight. — If the lens be too convex, 
it will bring the rays to a focus before they reach 
the retina ; if too flat, they will reach the retina be- 



* The cornea and the humors of the eye act in the same manner as 
the crystalline lens, but not so powerfully. 

t The simplest way of experimenting on the "adjustment of the eye" 
is to stick two stout needles upright into a straight piece of wood,— not 
exactly, but nearly in the same straight line, so that, on applying the eye 
to one end of the piece of wood, one needle {A) shall be seen about six 
inches off, and the other {B) just on one side of it, at twelve inches dis- 
tance. If the observer looks at the needle B he will find that he sees it 
very distinctly, and without the least sense of effort; but the image of .4 
is blurred, and more or less double. Now, let him try to make this blurred 
image of the needle A distinct. TTo will find ho can do so readily enoiigh, 
but that the act is accompanied by a sense of fatigue. And in projxirtion 
as A becomes distinct, B will become^ blurred. Nor will any effort onnblo 
him to see A and B distinctly at tlio same time.— IIuxlky. 



242 



THE SPECIAL SENSES. 



[224, 225. 



fore coming to a focus. In either case, the sight 

will be indistinct. A more common defect, however, 

is in the shape of the globe of the eye, which is 

^ ^^ either flattened or 

Pig. 66. 

elongated. In the 
former case (see O, 
Fig. 6 7), objects at 
a distance can be 
seen most distinctly 
— hence that is called 
far-sightedness.* In 
the latter, objects near b}^ are clearer, and hence this 
is termed near-sightedness. Far-sightedness is reme- 
died by convex glasses ; near-sightedness, by con- 




Adjadiiiiid of the Cinjstalline Lens.— A., for far 
and B, for near. 



Pig 




Diagram illtistrating the position of t"ie Retina, 
and C, in near sight. 



-B, in natural sight ; G-, in far 



cave. When glasses will improve the sight they 
should be worn ; \ any delay will be liable to injure 



* This should not be confounded with the long sight of old people, 
which is caused by the stiffness of the ciliary muscles, whereby the lens 
can not adapt itself to the varying distances of objects. 

t Dr. Henry W. Williams, the celebrated ophthalmologist, says that, in 
some cases, glasses are more necessary at six or eight years of age than to 
the majority of healthy eyes at sixty. Sometimes children find accidentally 
that they can see better through grandmother's spectacles. They should 
then be supplied with their own. 



235,226.] CARE OF THE EYES. 248 

the eyes, by straining their already impaired power. 
Cataract is a disease in which there is an opacity of 
the crystalline lens or its capsules, which obscures 
the vision. The lens may be caused to be absorbed, 
or may be removed by a skillful surgeon and the 
defect remedied by wearing convex glasses. 

Color-blind Persons receive only two of the three 
elementary color-sensations (green, red, violet). The 
spectrum appears to them to consist of two decidedly 
different colors, with a band of neutral tint between. 
The extreme red end is invisible, and a bright scar- 
let and a deep green appear alike. They are unable 
to distinguish between the leaves of a cherry-tree 
and its fruit by the color of the two, and see no 
difference between blue and yellow cloth. Whittier, 
the poet, it is said, can not tell red from green un- 
less in direct sunlight. Once he patched some dam- 
aged wall-paper in his library by matching a green 
vine in the pattern with one of a bright autumnal 
crimson. This defect in the eye is often unnoticed, 
and many railway accidents have doubtless happened 
through an inability to detect the color of signal 
lights. 

Care of the Eyes. — The shape of the eye can not 
be changed by rubbing and pressing it, as many 
suppose, but the sight may thus be fatally injured. 
Children troubled by near-sightedness should not 
lean forward at their work, as thereby tiie vessels 
of the eye become overcharged with blood. They 
should avoid fine print, and try, in every ])ossil>le 
way, to spare their eyes. If middle age be reached 



244 THE SPECIAL SENSES* [226,227. 

without especial difficulty of sight, the person is 
comparatively safe. Most cases of squinting are 
caused by long-sightedness, the muscles being strained 
in the effort to obtain distinct vision. In childhood, 
it may be cured by a competent surgeon, who will 
generally cut the muscle that draivs the eye out of 
place. 

After any severe illness, especially after measles, 
scarlatina, or typhoid fever, the eyes should be used 
with extreme caution, since they share in the general 
debility of the body, and recover their strength slowh^ 
Healthy eyes even should never be used to read 
fine print or by a dim light. Serious injury may be 
caused by an imprudence of this kind. Reading 
upon the cars is also a fruitful source of harm. The 
lens, striving to adapt itself to the incessantly-vary- 
ing distance of the page, soon becomes wearied. 
Whenever the eyes begin to ache, it is a warning 
that the}^ are being overtaxed and need rest. 

Objects that get into the eye should be removed 
before they cause inflammation ; rubbing in the 
meantime only irritates and increases the sensitive- 
ness. If the eye be shut for a few momicnts, so as 
to let the tears accumulate, and the upper lid be then 
lifted by taking hold of it at the center, the cinder 
or dust is often washed away at once. Trifling ob- 
jects can be removed by simply draAving the upper 
lid as far as possible over the lower one ; when the 
lid flies back to its place, the friction will detach 
any light substance. If it becomes necessary, turn 
the upper lid over a pencil, and the intruder may 



227.] CARE OF THE EYES, 245 

then be wiped off with a handkerchief. '' Eye- 
stones " are a popular delusion. When they seem to 
take out a cinder, it is only because they raise the 
eyelid, and allow the tears to wash it out. No one 
should ever use an eye-wash, except by medical 
advice. The eye is too delicate an organ to be trifled 
with, and when any disease is suspected, a reliable 
physician should be consulted. This is especially 
necessary, since, when one eye is injured, the other,, 
by sympathy, is liable to become inflamed, and per- 
haps be destroyed. 

When reading or working, the light should he at 
the left side, or at the rear; never in front. 

The constant increase of defective eyesight among 
the pupils in our schools is an alarming fact. Dr. 
Agnew considers that our school-rooms are fast 
making us a spectacle-using people. Near-sighted- 
ness seems to increase from class to class, until in 
the upper departments, there are sometimes as high 
as fifty per cent, of the pupils thus afflicted. The 
causes are (1), desks so placed as to make the light 
from the windows shine directly into the eyes of the 
scholars ; (2), cross-lights from opposite windows : 
(3), insufficient light ; (4), small type that strains the 
eyes ; and (5), the position of the pupil as he bends 
over his desk or slate, causing the blood to settle in 
his eyes. All these causers can be remedied ; the 
position of the desks can be changed ; windows can 
b(^ shaded, or new ones inserted ; books and news- 
papers that try the eyes can be rejected : and ever\- 
pupil can be taught how to sit at study. 



246 THE SPECIAL SENSES. [228,229. 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 

1. "Why does a laundress test the temperature of her flat-iron by hold- 
ing it near her cheek? 

2. When we are cold, why do we spread the palms of our hands before 
the fire? 

3. What is meant by a "furred tongue"? 

4. Why has sand or sulphur no taste? 

5. What was the origin of the word palatable? 

6. Why does a cold in the head injure the flavor of our coffee? 

7. Name some so-called flavors that are really sensations of touch. 

8. What is the object of the hairs in the nostrils? 

9. What use does the nose subserve in the process of respiration ? 

10. Why do we sometimes hold the nose when we take unpleasant 
medicine ? 

11. Why was the nose p]aced over the mouth? 

12. Describe how the hand is adapted to be the instrument of touch. 

13. Besides being the organ of taste, what use does the tongue sub- 
serve ? 

14. Why is not the act of tasting complete until we swallow? 

15. Why do all things have the same flavor when one's tongue is 
"furred" by fever? 

16. Which sense is the more useful— hearing or sight? 

17. Which coat is the white of the eye? 

18. What makes the difference in the color of eyes? 

19. Why do we snuff the air when we wish to obtain a distinct 
smell? 

20. Why do red-hot iron and frozen mercury (—40") produce the same, 
sensation ? 

21. Why can an elderly person drink tea which to a child would be 
unbearably hot? 

22. Why does an old man hold his paper so far from his eyes? 

23. Would you rather be punished on the tips of your Angers than 
on the palm of your hand? 

24. What is the object of the eyelashes? Are the hairs straight? 

25. What is the use of winking? 

26. When you wink, do the eyehds touch at once along their whole 
length? Why? 

27. How many rows of hairs are there in the eyelashes? 

28. Do all nations have eyes of the same shape? 

29. Why does snufl-takLng cause a flow of tears? 

30. Why does a fall cause one to " see stars " ? 

31. Why can we not see with the nose, or smell with the eyes? 

32. What causes the roughness of a cat's tongue? 

33. Is the cuticle essential to touch? 



229,230.] PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 247 

34. Can one tickle himself? 

35. Why does a bitter taste often produce vomiting? 

36. Is there any danger in looking "cross-eyed" for fun? 

37. Should school-room desks face a window? 

38. Why do we look at a person to whom we are listening attentively? 

39. Do we really feel with our fingers? 

40. Is the eye a perfect sphere? (See Fig. 61.) 

41. How often do we wink? 

42. Why is the interior of a telescope or microscope often painted 
black? 

43. What is "the apple of the eye"? 

44. What form of glasses do old people require? 

45. Should we ever wash our ears with cold water? 

46. What is the object of the winding passages in the nose? 

47. Can a smoker tell in the dark, whether or not his cigar is lighted? 

48. Will a nerve re-unite after it has been cut? 

49. Will the sight give us an idea of soUdity?* 



* A case occurred a few years ago, in London, where a friend of my own performed 
an operation upon a young woman who had been born blind, and, though an attempt 
had been made in early years to cure her, it had failed. She was able just to distinguish 
large objects, the general shadow, as it were, without any distinct perception of form, 
and to distinguish light from darkness. She could work well with her needle by the 
touch, and could use her scissors and bodkin and other implements by the training of 
her hand, so to speak, alone. Well, my friend happened to see her, and he examined 
her eyes, and told her that he thought he could get her sight restored ; at any rate, it was 
worth a trial. The operation succeeded ; and, being a man of intelligence and quite 
aware of the interest of such a case, he carefully studied and observed it ; and he com- 
pletely confirmed all that had been previously laid down by the experience of similar 
cases. There was one little incident which will give you an idea of the education which 
is required for what you would suppose is a thing perfectly simple and obvious. She 
could not distinguish by sight the things that she was perfectly familiar with by the 
touch, at least when they were first presented to her eyes. She could not recognize even 
a pair of scissors. Now, you would have supposed that a pair of scissors, of all things 
in the world, having been continually used by her, and their form having become per- 
fectly familiar to her hands, would have been most readily rccogni/.cd by her sight ; and 
yet she did not know what they were ; she had not an idea until she was told, and then 
she laughed, as she said, at her own stupidity. No stupidity at all ; she had never learned 
it, and it was one of those things which she could not know without loarnftig. One of 
the earliest cases of this kind was related by the celebrated Cheselden. a surgeon of the 
early part of last century. Cheselden relates how a youth just in this coTulition had been 
accustomed to play with a cat and a dog ; but for some time after ho attained his sight 
he never could tell which was which, and used to be continually making mistakes. One 
day, being rather ashamed of himself for liaviTig calloii the cat the dog. ho took up the 
cat in his arms and looked at her very attontivoly for some time, stroking her all the 
while ; and in this way he associated the impression derived from the touch, and made 
himself master (so to speak) of the whole idea of the aniu\al. lie then put the cat do\\ n, 
Kayiug: " Now, puss, I shall know you anothrr time."~(.'AurKNTEB. 



248 THE SPECIAL SENSES. [230. 

50. Why can a skillful surgeon determinate tlie condition of the brain 
and other internal organs by examining the interior of the eye?* 

51. Is there any truth in the idea that the image of the murderer can 
be seen in the eye of the dead victim? 

52. "What is the length of the optic nerve ? Ans. About three fourths of 
an inch. 

53. "Why does an injury to one eye generally affect the other eye? 

Am. The optic nerves give off no branches in passing from their origin 
in two gangha situated between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, and 
their termination in the eyeballs ; but, in the middle of their course, they 
decussate, or unite in one mass. The fibers of the two nerves here pass from 
side to side, and intermingle. The two ganglia are also united directly by 
fibers. Thus the eyes are not really separate organs of sight, but a kind of 
double organ to perform a single function. 



* This is done by means of an instrument called the ophthalmoecope. Light is 
thrown into the eye with a concave mirror, and the interior of the organ examined with 
a lens. 



IX. 

Health and Disease, -Death 
AND Decay. 



"Health is the vital principle of bliss." 

Thomson. 

"There are three wicks to the lamp of a man's life: brain, blood, and 
breath. Press the brain a little, its light goes out, followed by both the 
others. Stop the heart a minute, and out go all three of the wicks. Choke 
the air out of the lungs, and presently the fluid ceases to supply the 
other centers of flame, and all is soon stagnation, cold, and darkness.'" 

O. W. Holmes. 

"Calmly he looked on either Life, and here 
Saw nothing to regret, or there to fear; 
Prom Nature's temp'rate feast rose satisfy'd, 
Thank'd Heaven -thSTt he had lived, and that he died." 

Pope. 



HEALTH AND DISEASE -DEATH 
AND DECAY. 

Value of Health. — The body is the instrument 
which the mind uses. If it be dulled or nicked, the 
effect of the best labor will be impaired. The 
grandest gifts of mind or fortune are comparatively 
valueless unless there be a healthy body to use and 
enjoy them. The beggar, sturdy and brave with his 
out-door life, is really happier than the rich man in 
his palace with the gout to twinge him amid his 
pleasures. The day has gone by when delicacy is 
considered an element of beauty. Weakness is timid 
and irresolute ; strength is full of force and energy. 
Weakness walks or creeps ; strength speeds the race, 
wins the goal, and rejoices in the victory. 

False Ideas of Disease. — It was formerly sup- 
posed that diseases were caused by evil spirits, who 
entered the body and deranged its action. Incanta- 
tions, spells, etc., w^ere resorted to in order to drive 
them out. By others, disease was. thought to con\e 
arbitrarily, or as a special visitation of an overrulino- 
power. Hence, it was to be removed by fasting and 
prayer. Modern science teaches us that disease is 
not a thing, but a state. When our food is properly 
assimilated, the waste matter promptly excreted, and 



252 HEALTH AXD DISEASE. [231,232. 

all the organs Tvork in harmony, we are well ; when 
any derangement of these functions occurs, we are 
sick. Sickness is discord, as health is concord. If 
we abuse or misuse an}' instrument, we impair its 
ability to produce a perfect harmony. A suffering 
body is simply the penalty of violated law. 

Prevention of Disease. — Doubtless a large propor- 
tion of the ills which now afflict and rob us of so 
much time and pleasure might easily be avoided. A 
proper knowledge and observance of hygienic laws 
would greatly lessen the number of such diseases as 
consumption, catarrh, gout, rheumatism, ch'spepsia, 
etc. There are parts of England where one half the 
children die before they are five years old. Every 
physiologist knows that at least nine tenths of these 
lives could be saved by an observance of the simple 
laws of health. Professor Bennet, in a lecture at 
Edinburgh, estimated that one hundred thousand 
persons die annually in GTreat Britain from causes 
easily preventable. 

With the advance of science, the causes of many 
diseases have been determined. Vaccination has 
been found to prevent or mitigate the ravages of 
small-pox. Scurw, formerly so fatal among sailors 
that it was deemed " a mysterious infliction of Di- 
vine Justice against which man strives in vain," is 
now entirety avoided by the use of vegetables or 
lime-juice. Cholera, whose approach still strikes 
dread, and for which there is no known specific, is 
but the penalty for filthy streets, bad drainage, and 
over-crowded tenements, and may be controlled, if 



232,233.] CURE OF DISEASE. 253 

not prevented, by suitable sanitary measures. It 
was, no doubt, the intention that we should wear out 
by the general decay of all the organs,* rather than 
by the giving out of any single part, and that all 
should work together harmoniously until the vital 
force is exhausted. 

Cure of Disease. — The first step in the cure of 
any disease is to obey the law of health which has 
been violated. If medicine be taken, it is not to 
destroy the disease, since that is not a thing to be 
destroyed, but to hold the deranged action in check 
while nature repairs the injury, and again brings 
the system into harmonious movement. This ten- 
dency of nature is our chief reliance. The best phy- 
sicians are coming to have diminished confidence in 
medicine itself, and to place greater dependence 
upon sanitary and hygienic measures, and upon the 
efforts which nature always makes to repair injuries 
and soothe disordered action. They endeavor only 
to give to nature a fair chance, and sometimes to 



* So long as the phenomena of waste and repair are in harmony— so 
long, in other words, as the builder follows the scavenger — so long man 
exists in integrity and repair — just, indeed, as houses exist. Derange nu- 
trition, and at once degeneration, or rather let us say, alteration begins. 
Alas ! that we are so ignorant that there are many things about o\u' house, 
which, seeing them weaken, we know not how to strengthen. About the 
brick and the mortar, the frame and the rafters, we are not unlearned ; 
but within are many complexities, many chinks and crannies, full in them- 
selves of secoridary chinks and crannies, and these so small, si> deep, so re- 
cessed, that it happens every day that the destroyer settles hinisi^lt' in some 
place so obscure, that, while ho kills, he Uuighs at detiant-e. You or 1 nuH't 
with an accident in our watch. We consult the watchmaker, and he ropaii-s 
the injury. If we were all that watchmakers, like oxu-selves. should be, a 
man could be made to keep time until he died from old age or annihilating 
accident. This I firmly and fully believe.— 6>(/(/ Jloiiro qf a Phi/ifuiait. 



2 54 DEATH AND DECAY. [233, 234. 

assist her by the intehigent employment of proper 
medicines. The indiscriminate nse of patent nos- 
trums and sovereign remedies of whose constituents 
we know nothing, and by which powerful drugs are 
imbibed at hap-hazard, can not be too greatly depre- 
cated. When one needs medicine, he needs also a 
competent physician to advise its use. 

Death and Decay. — By a mystery we can not un- 
derstand, life is linked with death, and out of the 
decay of our bodies they, day by day, spring afresh. 
At last the vital force which has held death and 
decay in bondage, and compeUed them to minister 
to our growth, and to serve the needs of our life, 
faints and yields the struggle. These powers which 
have so long time been our servants, gather about 
our dying couch, and their last offices usher us into 
the new life and the grander possibilities of the 
world to come. This last birth, we who see the 
fading, not the dawning, life, call death. 

" O Father! grant Thy love divine, 
To make these mystic temples Thine, 
When wasting age and wear^i.ng strife 
Have sapp'd the leaning walls of life • 
When darkness gathers over all, 
And the last tottering pillars fall, 
Take the poor dust Thy mercy warms. 
And mold it into heavenly forms."' 

Holmes. 



HINTS ABOUT THE SICK-ROOM. 

A Sick-room should be the hghtest and cheeriest in the 
house. A small, close, dark bedroom or a recess is bad enough 
for one in health, but unendurable for a sick person. In a case 
of fever, and in many acute diseases, it should be remote from 
the noise of the family ; but when one is recovering from an 
accident, and in all attacks where quiet is not needed, the pa- 
tient may be where he can amuse himself by watching the 
movements of the household, or looking out upon the street. 

The ventilation must he thorough. Bad air will poison both 
the sick and the well. A fire-place is, therefore, desirable. 
Windows should open easily. By carefully protecting the pa- 
tient with extra blankets, the room may be frequently aired. 
If there be no direct draught, much may be done to change the 
air, by simply swinging an outer door to and fro many times. 

A bare floor, with strips of carpet here and there to deaden 
noise, is cleanest, and keeps the air freest from dust. Cane- 
bottomed chairs are preferable to upholstered ones. All un- 
necessary furniture should be removed out of the way. A straw 
bed or a mattress is better than feathers. The bed-hangingis, 
lace curtains, etc., should be taken down. Creaking hinges 
should be oiled. Sperm candles are better than kerosene lamps. 

Never ivhisper in a sick-room. All necessary conversation 
should be carried on in the usual tone of voice. Do not call a 
physician unnecessarily, but if one be employed, obey his (direc- 
tions implicitly. Never give nostrums ovor-officious friends may 
suggest. Do not allow visitors to see the patient, except it bo 
necessary. Never bustle about the room, nor go on tiptoe, but 
move in a quiet, ordinary way. Do not keep the bottles in the 
continued sight of the sick person. Never lot drinking-water 
stand in the room. 



256 WHATTODO [238. 

Do not raise the patient's head to drink, but have a cup 
with a long spout, or use a bent tube, or even a straw. Do not 
tempt the appetite when it craves no food. Bathe frequently, 
but let the physician prescribe the method. Give w^ritten direc- 
tions to the watchers. Have all medicines carefully marked. 
Remove all soiled clothing, etc., at once from the room. Change 
the linen much oftener than in health. When you wish to 
change the sheets, and the patient is unable to rise, roll the 
under sheet tightly lengthwise to the middle of th3 bed ; put 
on the clean sheet, with half its width folded up, closely to the 
other roll ; lift the patient on to the newly-made part, remove 
the soiled sheet, and then spread out the clean one. 

DISINFECTANTS. 

Remember, first, that deodorizers and disinfectants are not 
the same. A bad smell, for instance, may be smothered by 
some more powerful odor, while its cause remains uninfluenced. 
Bear also in mind the fact that no deodorizer and no disinfect- 
ant can take the place of perfect cleanliness and thorough ven- 
tilation. No purif j^er can rival the oxygen contained in strong 
and continued currents of fresh, cold air, and every disinfectant 
finds an indispensable ally in floods of scalding water. 

An excellent disinfectant may be made by dissolving in a 
pail of water either of the following : (1), a quarter of a pound 
of sulphate of zinc and two ounces of common salt for each 
gallon of water ; (2), a pound and a half of copperas, for each 
gallon of water. Towels, bed-linen, handkerchiefs, etc., should 
be soaked at least an hour, in a solution of the first kind, and 
then be boiled, before washing.* Vaults, drains, vessels used in 

* It is best to burn all articles wMcli have been in contact with, persons 
sick with, contagious or infectious diseases. 

In using the zinc solution, place the articles in it as soon as they are 
removed from the patient, and before they are taken from the room : if 
practicable, have the solution boiling hot at the time. In fumigating 
apartments, aU the openings should be made as nearly air-tight as possible. 
The articles to be included in the fumigation should be so exposed and 
spread out that the sulphurous vapor may penetrate every portion of them. 
Por a room about ten feet square, at least two pounds of sulphur should be 
used ; for larger rooms, proportionally increased quantities. Put the sul- 
phur in iron pans supported upon bricks placed in wash-tubs containing a 



238,239.] TILL THE DOCTOR COMES. 257 

the sick-room, etc., should be disinfected by a solution of the 
second kind ; chloride of lime may also be used for the same 
purpose. Rooms, furniture, and articles that can not be treated 
with the solution of the first kind, should be thoroughly fumi- 
gated with burning sulphur. Where walls are unpapered, re- 
whitewash with pure, freshly-slacked quicklime, adding one pint 
of the best fluid carbolic acid to every gallon of the fluid white- 
wash. Powdered stone lime sprinkled on foul, wet places, or 
placed in pans in damp rooms, will absorb the moisture ; and 
dry, fresh charcoal-powder may be combined with it to absorb 
noxious gases. 

WHAT TO DO TILL THE DOCTOR COMES. 

The following instructions are intended simply to aid in an emergency. 
When accidents or a sudden severe illness occur, there is necessarily, in 
most cases, a longer or shorter interval before a physician can arrive. 
These moments are often very precious, and life may depend upon a little 
knowledge and much self-possession. The instructions are therefore given 
as briefly as possible, that they may be easily carried in the memory. A 
few suggestions in regard to common ailments are included. 

Burns. — When a person's clothes catch fire, quickly lay him 
on the' ground, wrap him in a coat, mat, shawl, carpet, or in 
his own garments, as best you can to extinguish the flame. Pour 
on plenty of water till the half-burned clothing is cooled. Then 
carry the sufferer to a warm room, lay him on a table or a 
carpeted floor, and with a sharp knife or scissors remove his 
clothing. 

The treatment of a burn consists in protecting from the air.* 
An excellent remedy is to apply soft cloths kept wet with sweet 

little water, set it on fire by hot coals or with the aid of a sixjonful of 
alcohol, or by a long fuse set on train as the last opening to the room is 
closed. Allow the apartment to remain sealed for twenty-four horn's. 
Q-reat care should be taken not to inhale the poisonous fumes in tiring tlie 
sulphur. After the fumigation, allow free currents of air to pass through 
the apartment ; expose all movable articles for as long time as may be to 
the sun and the wind out-of-doors; beat and shake the i-arpets. hangings, 
pillows, etc. 

The disinfectants and the instructions for \ising them, as given above, 
are mainly those recommended by the National IVxird of Health. 

* It is a great mistake to suppose that salves will '' draw out the tuv " 
of a biirn, or heal a bruise or cut. The vital force nuist unite the divided 
tiss\ie by the deposit of material and the formation of new cells. 



258 WHATTODO [239,240. 

oil, or with tepid water ivMch contains all the ''cooking soda'' 
that it will dissolve. Afterward dress the wound with carbolic 
acid salve. "Wrap a dry bandage upon the outside. Then remove 
the patient to a bed and cover warmly.* Apply cool water to 
a small burn till the smart ceases, and then cover with oint- 
ment. Do not remove the dressings until they become stiff and 
irritating ; then take them from a part at a time ; dress and 
cover again quickly. 

Cuts, Wounds, etc. — The method of stopping the bleeding 
has been described on page 128. If an artery is severed, a phy- 
sician should be called at once. If the bleeding is not profuse, 
apply cold water until it ceases, dry the skin, draw the edges of 
the wound together, and secure them by strips of adhesive plas- 
ter. Protect with an outer bandage. This dressing should 
remain for several days. In the meantime wet it frequently 
with cool water to subdue inflammation. When suppuration be- 
gins, wash occasionally with tepid water and Castile soap. 

Dr. W^oodbridge, of iSTew York, in a recent address, gave the 
following directions as to "What to do in case of a sudden 
wound when the surgeon is not at hand." "An experienced 
person would naturally close the lips of the wound as quickly 
as possible, and apply a bandage. If the wound is bleeding 
freely, but no artery is spouting blood, the first thing to be done 
is to wash it with water at an ordinary temperature. To every 
pint of water add either five grains of corrosive sublimate, or 
two and a half tea-spoonfuls of carbolic acid. If the acid is used, 
add two table-spoonfuls of glycerine, to prevent its irritating the 
wound. If there is neither of these articles in the house, add 
four table-spoonfuls of borax to the water. Wash the wound, 
close it, and" apply a compress of a folded square of cotton or 
linen. Wet it in the solution used for washing the wound and 



* In case of a large burn, lose no delay in bringing a physician. If a 
burn be near a joint or on tbe face, even if small, let a doctor see it, and 
do not be in any burry about baving it healed. Remember that with all 
the care and skill which can be used, contractions will sometimes take 
place. The danger to life from a burn or scald is not in proportion to its 
severity, but to its extent— that is, a small part, such as a hand or a foot, 
may be burned so deeply as to cripple it for life, and yet not much endan- 
ger the general health ; but a slight amount of burning, a mere scorching, 
over two thirds of the body, may prove fatal.— Hope. 



240.] TILL THE DOCTOR COMES. 259 

bandage quickly and firmly. If the bleeding is profuse, a sponge 
dipped in very hot water and wrung out in a dry cloth should 
be applied as quickly as possible. If this is not available, use 
ice, or cloths wrung out in ice water. If a large vein or artery 
is spouting, it must be stopped at once by compression. This 
may be done by a rubber tube wound around the arm tightly 
above the elbow or above the knee, where the pulse is felt to 
beat ; or an improvised ' tourniquet ' may be used. A hard 
apple or a stone is placed in a folded handkerchief, and rolled 
firmly in place. This bandage is applied so that the hard ob- 
ject rests on the point where the artery beats, and is then tied 
loosely around the arm. A stick is thrust through the loose 
bandage and turned till the flow of blood ceases." . 

Bleeding from the Nose is rarely dangerous, and often 
beneficial. When it becomes necessary to stop it, sit upright 
and compress the nostrils between the thumb and forefinger, or 
with the thumb press upward upon the upper lip. A piece of 
ice, a snow-ball, or a compress wet with cold water may be 
appHed to the back of the neck. 

A Sprain* is often more painful and dangerous than a 
dislocation. Wrap the injured part in flannels wrung out of 
hot water, and cover with a dry bandage, or, better, with 
oiled silk. Liniments and stimulating applications are inju- 
rious in the first stages, but useful when the inflammation is 
subdued. Do not let the limb hang down; keep the joint still. 
Without attention to these points, no remedies are likely to 
be of much service. A sprained limb must be kept quiet, even 
after all pain has ceased. If used too soon, dangerous conse- 
quences may ensue. Many instances have been known in 
which, from premature use of an injured limb, the inflamma- 
tion has been renewed and made chronic, the bones at the 
joint have become permanently^ diseased, and amputation has 
been necessitated. 

* "A sprain," says Dr. Hope, in that admirable little book entitled 
7^11 the Doctor comes and How to help Him, " is a very painful and very serious 
thing. When you consider that from the tips of the flnjrei-s to the wrist, or 
from the ends of the toes to the leg, there are not less than thirty separate 
bones, all tied together with straps, cords, atid elastic bands, and about 
twenty hinges, all to be kept in good working order, you will not wonder 
at sprains being frequent and sonietinios serious." 



260 WHAT TO DO [240. 

Diarrhea, Cholera Morbus, etc., are often caused by eat- 
ing indigestible or tainted food, such as unripe or decaying fruity 
or stale vegetables ; or by drinking impure water or poisoned 
milk (see p. 321). Sometimes the disturbance may be traced to 
a checking of the perspiration ; but more frequently to peculiar 
conditions of the atmosphere, especially in large cities. Such 
diseases are most prevalent in humid weather, when the days 
are hot and the nights cold and moist. Especial attention should 
at such times be paid to the diet. If an attack comes on, ascer- 
tain, if possible, its cause. You can thereby aid your physician, 
and, if the cause be removable, can protect the rest of the house- 
hold. If the limbs are cold, take a hot bath, followed by a 
thorough rubbing. Then go to bed and lie quietly on the back. 
In ordinary cases, rest is better than medicine. If there be pain, 
have flannels wrung out of hot water applied to the abdomen.* 
A mustard poultice will serve the same purpose if more con- 
venient. Eat no fruit, vegetables, pastry, or pork. Use water 
sparingly. If much thirst exist, give small pieces of ice, or 
limited quantities of cold tea or toast-water. Take particular 
pains with the diet for some days after the bowel-irritation has 
ceased. 

Croup. — There are two kinds of cioup — true and false. 
True croup comes on gradually, and is less likely to excite alarm 
than false croup, which comes on suddenly. True croup is at- 
tended with fever and false membrane in the throat ; false croup 
is not attended with fever or false membrane. True croup is 
almost always fatal in four or five days ; false croup recovers, 
but is liable to come on again. The great majority of cases of 
the so-called croup are simply cases of spasm of the glottis. 
* ' Croupy children " are those who are liable to these attacks of 
false croup, which are most frequent during the period of teeth- 
ing. — Dr. Geo. M. Beard. Croup occurs commonly in children 
between the ages of two and seven years. At this period, if a 
child has a hollow cough, with more or less fever, flushed face, 
red watery eyes, and especially if it have a hoarse voice, and 

* If it be diflacult to manage the foments, lay a hot plate over the flan- 
nels and cover with some protection. By having a change of hot plates, 
the foments can be kept at a uniform high temperature. This plan will 
be found useful in all cases where foments are needed. 



240,241.] TILL THE DOCTOR COMES. 261 

show signs of uneasiness about the throat, send at once for a doc- 
tor. Induce mild vomiting by doses of syrup of ipecac. Put the 
feet in a hot mustard and water bath. Apply hot fomentations, 
rapidly renewed, to the chest and throat. A "croupy" child 
should be carefully shielded from all physical excitation, sudden 
waking from sleep, and any punishment that tends to awaken 
intense fear or terror. Irritation of the air-passages through 
faulty swallowing in drinking hastily, should be guarded against. 
Q-ood pure air, warm clothing, atid a nourishing diet are indis- 
pensable. 

Common Sore Throat.— Wrap the neck in a wet bandage, 
and cover with flannel or a clean woolen stocking. Gargle the 
throat frequently with a solution of a tea-spoonful of salt in a 
pint of water, or thirty grains of chlorate of potash in a wine- 
glass of water. 

Fits, Apoplexy, Epilepsy, etc.— These call for immediate 
action and prompt medical attendance. Children who are 
teething, or troubled with intestinal worms, or from various 
causes, are sometimes suddenly seized with convulsions. Apply 
cloths wet in cold water — or, better still, ice wrapped in oiled 
silk— to the head, and especially to the hack of the neck, taking 
care, however, that the ice or wet cloths do not remain too 
long. Apply mustard plasters to the stomach and legs. A full 
hot bath is excellent if the cold applications fail. Endeavor to 
induce vomiting. Seek to determine the cause, and consult with 
your physician for further guidance. 

Apoplexy may be distinguished from a fainting fit by the 
red face, hot skin, and labored breathing ; whereas, in a faint, 
the face and lips lose color, and the skin becomes cold. In 
many cases, death follows so quickly upon an apoplectic seizure, 
that little effectual service can be given. Call the nearest physi- 
cian, loosen the clothing, and raise the head and shoulders, 
taking care not to bend the head forward on the neck. Keep 
the head cool. Do not move the patient unnecessarily. 

In a common fainting fit, give the patient as nuich air as 
possible. Lay him fiat upon the fioor or ground, and keep the 
crowd away. 

All that can be done in a. fit of epilepsy is to pro\oui the 
patient from injuring himself ; especially put something in his 



262 WHATTODO [241. 

mouth to keep him from biting his tongue. A cork, a piece of 
India rubber, or even a tightly-rolled handkerchief, placed be- 
tween the teeth will answer this purpose. Give the sufferer 
fresh air ; loosen his clothing, and place him in a comfortable 
position. Epilepsy may be due to various causes, — improper 
diet, overexcitement, etc. Consult with a physician, and study 
to avoid the occasion. 

Concussion of the Brain generally arises from some con- 
tusion of the head, from violent blows, or from a shock received 
by the whole body in consequence of falling from a height. In 
any case of injury to the head where insensibility ensues, a doc- 
tor should be called at once. Remove the patient to a quiet 
room ; loosen his clothing ; strive to restore circulation by gentle 
friction, using the hand or a cloth for this purpose ; apply cold 
water to the head, and, if the patient's body be cold and his 
skin clammy, put hot bottles at his feet. Ammonia may be cau- 
tiously held to the nose. Beyond this, it is not safe for a non- 
professional to go, in case of a severe injury to the head. Con- 
cussion is more or less serious, according to the injury which 
the brain has sustained ; but even in slight cases, when a tem- 
porary di^iziness appears to be the only result, careful treatment 
should be observed both at the time of the injury and after- 
ward. Cases of head-injury are often more grave in their con- 
sequences than in their immediate symptoms. Sometimes the 
patient appears to be getting better when really he is worse. 
Rest and quiet should be observed for several weeks after an 
accident which has in any way affected the brain. 

Toothache and Earache. —Insert in the hollow tooth cot- 
ton wet with laudanum, spirits of camphor, or chloroform. 
When the nerve is exposed, wet it with creosote or carbolic 
acid. Hot cloths or a hot brick wrapped in cloth and held to 
the face will often relieve the toothache. In a similar manner 
treat the ear, wetting the cloth in hot water, and letting the 
vapor pass into the ear. 

Choking. — Ordinarily a smart blow between the shoulders, 
causing a compression of the chest and a sudden expulsion of 
the air from the lungs, will throw out the offending substance. 
If the person can swallow, and the object be small, give plenty 
of bread or potato, and water to wash it down. Press upon 



241,242.] TILL THE DOCTOR COMES. 263 

the tongue with a spoon, when, perhaps, you may see the ob- 
ject, and draw it out with your thumb and finger, or a blunt 
pair of scissors. If neither of these remedies avail, give an 
emetic of syrup of ipecac or mustard and warm water. 

Frost Bites are frequently so sudden that one is not aware 
when they occur. In Canada it is not uncommon for persons 
meeting in the street to say, "Mind, sir, your nose looks whit- 
ish." The blood cools and runs slowly, and the blood-vessels 
become choked and swollen. Keep from the heat. Rub the 
part quickly with snow, if necessary for hours, till the natural 
color is restored. If one is benumbed with cold, take him into 
a cold room, remove the wet clothes, rub the body dry, cover 
with blankets, and give a little warm tea or other suitable 
drink. On recovering, let him be brought to a fire gradually.* 

Fevers, and many acute diseases, are often preceded by a 
loss of appetite, headache, shivering, "pains in the bones," in- 
disposition to work, etc. In such cases, sponge with tepid 
water, and rub the body till all aglow. Go to bed, place hot 
bricks to the feet, take nothing but a little gruel or beef tea, 
and drink moderately of warm, cream-of-tartar water. If you 
do not feel better the next morning, call a physician. If that 
be impossible, take a dose of castor-oil or Epsom salt. 

STin-stroke is a sudden prostration caused by intense heat. 
The same effect is produced by the burning rays of the sun and 
the fierce fire of a furnace. When a person falls under such 
circumstances, place your hand on his chest. If the skin be 
cool and moist, it is not a sun-stroke ; but if it be dry and 
"biting hot," there can be no mistake. Time is now precious. 
At once carry the sufferer to the nearest pump or hydrant, and 
dash cold water on the head and chest until consciousness is 
restored.— Dk. H. C. Wood. 

To prevent sun-stroke, wear a porous hat, and in the top of 
it place a wet handkerchief ; also drink freely of water, not ice- 
cold, to induce abundant perspiration. 

* If you are caught in a snow-storm, look for a snow-bank in the lee 
of a hill, or a wood out of the wind, or a hollow in the plain filled with 
snow. Scrape out a hole big enoiigh to creep into, and the drifting snow 
will keep you warm. Men and animals have been preserved after days of 
such imprisonment. Remember that if you give way to sleep in the open 
field, you will never awake. 



264 WHAT TO DO [242. 

Asphyxia, or apparent death, whether produced by drown 
ing, 'suffocation, bad air, or coal gas, requires very similar 
treatment. Send immediately for blankets, dry clothing, and a 
physician. Treat the sufferer upon the spot, if the weather be 
not too unfavorable. 

1. Loosen the clothing about the neck and chest. 

2. Turn the patient on his face, open the mouth, draw out 
the tongue, and cleanse the nostrils, so as to clear the air- 
passages. 

3. Place the patient on his back, grasp his arms firmly 
above the elbows, and pull them gently upward until they meet 
over the head, in order to draw air into the lungs. Then bring 
the arms back by the side, to expel the air. Repeat the process 
about fifteen times per minute. Alternate pressure upon the 
chest, and blowing air into the mouth through a quill or with 
a pair of bellows, may aid your efforts. Excite the nostrils 
with snuff or smelling salts, or by passing hartshorn under the 
nose. Do not cease effort while there is hope. Life has been 
restored after five hours of suspended animation.* 

4. "When respiration is established, wrap the patient in dry, 
warm clothes, and rub the limbs under the blankets or over the 
dry clothing energetically toward the heart. Apply heated flan- 
nels, bottles of hot water, etc., to the limbs, and mustard plas- 
ters f to the chest. 

Foreign Bodies in the Ear. — Insects may be killed by 
dropping a little sweet-oil into the ear. Beans, peas, etc., may 
generally be removed by so holding the head that the affected 
ear will be toward the ground, and then cautiously syringing 
tepid w^ater into it from below. Do not use much force lest the 

* Another simple method of artificial respiration is described in the 
British Medical Journal. The body of the patient is laid on the back, with 
clothes loosened, and the month and nose wiped ; two by-standers pass 
their right hands under the body at the level of the waist, and grasp each 
other's hand, then raise the body nntil the tips of the fingers and the toes 
of the subject alone touch the ground ; count fifteen rapidly ; then lower 
the body flat to the ground, and press the elbows to the side hard; count 
fifteen again ; then raise the body again for the same length of time ; and 
so on, alternately raising and lowering. The head, arms, and legs are to be 
allowed to dangle down freely when the body is raised. 

t The best mustard poultice is the paper plaster now sold by every 
druggist. It is always ready, and can be carried by a traveler. It has only 
to be dipped in water, and applied at once. 



342,243.] TILL THE DOCTOR COMES. 265 

tympanum be injured. If this fail, dry the ear, stick the end 
of a httle hnen swab into thick glue, let the patient lie on one 
side, put this into the ear until it touches the substance, keep 
it there three quarters of an hour while it hardens, and then 
draw them all out together. Be careful that the glue does not 
touch the skin at any point, and that you are at work upon 
the right ear. Children often deceive one as to the ear which is 
affected. 

Foreign Bodies in the Wose, such as beans, cherry-pits, 
etc., may frequently be removed by closing the opposite nostril, 
and then blowing into the child's mouth forcibly. . The air, un- 
able to escape except through the affected nostril, will sweep 
the obstruction before it. 



ANTIDOTES TO POISONS. 

Acids : Nitric (aqua fortis), hydrochloric (muriatic), sulphuric 
(oil of vitriol), oxalic, etc. — Drink a little water to weaken the 
acid, or, still better, take strong soap-suds. Stir some magnesia 
in water, and drink freely. If the magnesia be not at hand, use 
chalk, soda, lime, whiting, soap, or even knock a piece of plaster 
from the wall, and scraping off the white outside coat pound it 
fine, mix with milk or water, and drink at once. Follow with 
warm water, or flax-seed tea. 

Alkalies; Potash, soda, lye, ammonia (hartshorn). — Drink 
weak vinegar or lemon juice. Follow with castor or linseed oil, 
or thick cream. 

Antimony : Antimonial Wine, tartar emetic, etc. — Drink 
strong, green tea, and in the meantime chew the dry leaves. 
The direct antidote is a solution of nut-gall or oak-bark. 

Arsenic: Cobalt, ScheeWs green, fly-powder, ratsbane, etc. — 
Qive plenty offnilk, ivhites of eggs, or induce vomiting by mustard 
and warm watcn- ; * or oven soap-suds. 

Bite of a Snake or a Mad Dog.— Tie a bandage above the 
wound, if on a limb. Wash the bite thoroughly, and. if pos- 
sible, let the person suck it strongly. Kub some lunar caustic 

* See that the nuistavd is well mixed with the water, in the prop^^i'ti^""" 
of about half an ounce of the former to a pint of the hitter. 



266 ANTIDOTES TO POISONS. [244,245. 

or potash in the wound, or heat the point of a small poker or 
a steel-sharpener white hot, and press it into the bite for a mo- 
ment. It will scarcely cause pain, and will be effectual in ar- 
resting the absorption of the poison, unless a vein has been 
struck. 

Copper: Sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), acetate of copper 
(verdigris). — Take whites of eggs or soda. Use milk freely. 

Laudanum : Opium, paregoric, soothing cordial, soothing syr- 
up, etc. — Give an emetic at once of syrup of ipecac, or mustard 
and warm water, etc. After vomiting, use strong coffee freely. 
Keep the patient awake by pinching, pulling the hair, walking 
about, dashing water in the face, and any expedient possible. 

Lead : White lead, acetate of lead (sugar of lead), red lead.—^ 
Give an emetic of syrup of ipecac, or mustard and warm water, 
or salt and water. Follow with a dose of Epsom salt. 

Matches: Phosphorus. — Give magnesia, chalk, whiting, or 
even flour in water, and follow with mucilaginous drinks. 

Mercury : Calomel, chloride of mercury (corrosive sublimate, 
bug poison), red precipitate. — Drink milk copiously. Take the 
whites of eggs, or stir flour in water, and use freely. 

Nitrate of Silver (lunar caustic). — Give salt and water, and 
follow with castor-oil. 

Nitrate of Potash (salpeter, niter). — Give mustard and warm 
water, or syrup of ipecac. Follow with flour and water, and 
cream or sweet oil. 

Prussie Acid (oil of bitter almonds), cyanide of potassium. 
— Take a tea-spoonful of hartshorn in a pint of water. Apply 
smelling salts to the nose, and dash cold water in the face. 

Sting of an Insect. — Apply a little hartshorn or spirits of 
camphor, or soda moistened with water, or a paste of clean 
earth and saliva. 

Sulphate of Iron (green vitriol). — Give syrup of ipecac, or 
mustard and warm water, or any convenient emetic ; then mag- 
nesia and water. 



X. 

Selected Readings 

TO ILLUSTRATE AND SUPPLEMENT THE TEXT. 



Arranged in order of the subjects to which they refer. 



"Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for 
granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider." 

Lord Bacon. 

"He who learns the rules of wisdom without conforming to them in 
his life, is like a man who labored in his fields but did not sow." 

Saadi. 



SELECTED READINGS 



The figures indicate the pages in the text upon which the cor- 
responding subjects will he found. 



THE SKELETON. 



Man, as Compared with other Vertebrate Animals (p. 3). 

—Man, the lord of the animal kingdom, is constructed after 
the same type as the cat that purrs at his feet, the ox that he 
eats, the horse that bears his burden, the bird that sings in his 
cage, the snake that crawls across his pathway, the toad that 
hides in his garden, and the fish that swims in his aquarium. 
All these are but modifications of one creative thought, showing- 
how the Almighty Worker delights in repeating the same chord, 
with infinite variations. There are marked physical peculiarities, 
however, which distinguish man from the other mammals. 
Thus, the position of the spinal opening in the middle third of 
the base of the skull, thereby balancing the head and admit- 
ting an upright posture ; the sigmoid S-curve of the vertebral 
column ; the ability of opposing the well-developed thumb to 
the fingers ; the shortened foot, the sole resting flat on the 
ground ; the size and position of the great toe ; the length of 
the arms, reaching half-way from the hip to the knees ; the 
relatively great development of the brain ; the freedom of the 
anterior extremities from use in loconiotion. and th(^ coiisequent 
erect and biped position. Tn addition, man is tlio o\\\y ninmninl 
that truly walks; that is endowed with the power of speech; 
and that is cosmopolitan, readily adaptiug himself to extremes 
of heat and cold, and making his home in all parts o'i the globe. 
— Steele's Popular Zoology. 



270 



THE SKELETON 



Union of Fractures (p. 8).— In the course of a week after 
a fracture, there is a soft yet firm substance, something between 
hgament and cartilage in consistence, which surrounds the 
broken extremities of the bone, and adheres to it above and 
below. The neighboring muscles and tendons are closely at- 

Pia. 68. 




Skeleton of Orang, Chimpanzee, and Man. 



tached to its surface, and the fractured extremities of the bone, 
lie, as it were, loose in a cavity in the center, with a small 
quantity of vascular albumen, resembling a semi-transparent 
jelly. 

Here, then, is a kind of splint which nature contrives, and 
which is nearly completed within a week from the date of the 
accident. We call this new formation the callus. This process 
goes on, the surrounding substance becoming thicker and of still 
firmer consistence. In the course of a few days more, the thin 



UNION OF FEACTURES. 271 

jelly which lay in contact with the broken ends of the bone has 
disappeared, and its place is supplied by a callus continuous 
with that which formed the original capsule. This is the ter- 
mination of the first stage of curative progress. The broken 
ends of the bones are now completely imbedded in a mass of 
vascular organized substance or callus, something between gristle 
and cartilage in consistence ; and as yet there are no traces of 
bony matter in it. At this time, if you remove the adventitious 
substance, you will find the broken ends of bone retaining ex- 
actly their original figure and presenting the same appearance 
as immediately after the fracture took place. 

At the end of about three weeks, if you make a section of 
the callus, minute specks of earthy matter are visible, deposited 
in it here and there, and at the same time some of the callus 
appears to disappear on the outside, so that the neighboring 
muscles and tendons no longer adhere to it. The specks of 
bone become larger and more numerous until they extend into 
each other ; and thus by degrees the whole of the callus is con- 
verted into bone. Even at this period, however, there is not 
absolute bony union, for although the whole of the callus has 
become bone, it is not yet identified with the old bone, and you 
might still pick it off' with a penknife, leaving the broken ex- 
tremities not materially altered from what they were immedi- 
ately after the injury. This may be regarded as the end of the 
second stage of the process by which a fracture is repaired. 
Now a third series of changes begins to take place. The broken 
extremities of the bones become intimately united by bony mat- 
ter passing from one to the other. The mass of new bone on 
the outside, formed by the ossification of the callus, being no 
longer wanted, is absorbed ; by degrees the whole of it disap- 
pears, and the bone is left having the same dimensions wliich it 
had before the occurrence of the accident. 

The process of union is completed in young persons sooner 
than in those advanced in life ; in the upper extremities sooner 
than in the lower; and in smaller animals nion^ speedily than 
in man. In human subjects a broken arm or t'oi-e-nnn will be 
healed in from six to eight weeks, while a le,^- or thii;h will oc- 
cupy nine or (en weeks.— Si k B. C. Bhodik. 

The Hand and the Foot (p. 21).—Jhni Co))i2Kired with the 



272 



THE SKELETOX 




a. Monkey^s Hand and Fool. 

b. Human Hand and Foot. 



Ape. — The peculiar prehensible power possessed by the hand of 
man is chiefly dependent upon the si2:e and power of the thumb, 
which is more developed in him than it is in the highest apes. 
The thumb of the human hand can be brought into exact oppo- 
sition to the extremities of all the 
fingers, whether singly or in com- 
bination ; while in those quadru- 
mana which most nearly approach 
man, the thumb is so short, and 
the fingers so much elongated, that 
their tips can scarcely be brought 
into opposition ; and the thumb 
and the fingers are so weak that 
they can never be opposed to each 
other with an^^ degree of force. 
Hence, though well suited to cling 
round bodies of a certain size, such 
as the small branches of trees, the 
anterior extremities of the quadrumana can neither seize verj^ 
minute objects with such precision nor support large ones with 
such firmness "as are essential to the dexterous performance of 
a variety of operations for which the hand of man is admirably 
adapted. 

The human foot is, in proportion to the size of the whole 
body, larger, broader, and stronger than that of any other 
mammal, save the kangaroo. The surface of the astragalus 
(ankle-bone) which articulates with the tibia, looks almost ver- 
tically upward, and hardly at all inward, when the sole is flat 
upon the ground ; and the lateral facets are more nearly at 
right angles to this surface than in any ape. Tlie plane of the 
foot is directed at right angles to that of the leg ; and its sole is 
concave, so that the weight of the bodj' falls on the summit of an 
arch, of which the os calcis (heel-bone) and the metatarsal bones 
form the two points of support. This arched form of the foot, 
and the contact of the whole plantar surface with the ground, 
are particularly noticeable in man, most of the apes having the 
OS calcis small, straight, and more or less raised from the 
ground, while they touch, when standing erect, with the outer 
side only of the foot. The function of the hallux, or great toe, 



THE HAND AND THE FOOT. 



273 



Fig. 



moreover, is strikingly contrasted in man and the ape ; for, 
while in the latter it is nearly as opposable as the thumb, and 
can be used to almost the same extent as an instrument of 
prehension, it chiefly serves in the 
former to extend the basis of support, 
and to advance the body in progres- 
sion.— Dk. W. B. Carpenter. 

The Natural Flexibility of the 
Toes, and How it is Destroyed.— ^q 
often admire the suppleness of the 
fingers by means of which we can 
perform such a variety of acts with 
swiftness and delicacy. Did it ever 
occur to you that the toes, which in 
most feet seem incapable of a free 
and graceful motion, even when they 
are not stiffened and absolutely de- 
formed by the compression of the 
modern shoe, are also provided by 
Nature with a considerable degree of 
flexibility ? The phalanges of the toes, 
though more feebly developed, have 
really the same movements among 
themselves as those of the fingers, 
and, in case of necessity, their powers 
can be strengthened and educated to 
a surprising degree. There are well- 
known instances of persons who, born 

without hands, or having lost them by accident, have success- 
fully supplied the deficiency by a cultivated use of their feet. 
Some of these have distinguished themselves in the world of art. 
Who that has been so fortunate as to visit the Picture-Gallery 
in Antwerp on some fhio morning when tlie armless artist. 
M. Felu, was working at his easel, can forgot the wonderful 
dexterity with whicli he wi(^l(kHl his bruslies. mixed the oils on 
his palette, and shaded the colors on his canvas, all with his 
agile feet? The writer well remembers the ease and graci^ with 
which, at the close of a ])U\isant iiitoi-view, this cultured man 
put the tip of his foot into his coat-pocket, drew out a visiting 



The Leg in gfa/idi/tg. 



274 THE SKELETON. 

card, wrote his name and address upon it, and presented it to 
her between his toes ! 

Contrast this intelligent adaptation of a delicate physical 
mechanism with the barbarous treatment it too commonly re- 
ceives. The Chinese are at least consistent. They cripple and 
distort the feet of their high-born daughters until they crush 
out all the power and gracefulness of nature in the artificial 
formation of what they term a "golden lily" ; but they never 
expect these golden-hlied women to make their withered feet 
useful . With us, on the contrary, every girl would like to walk 
well, to display in her general movements something of the 
" poetry of motion " ; yet the absurd and arbitrary fashion of 
our foot-gear not only makes an elastic step one of the rarest of 
accomplishments, but renders oftentimes the simple act of 
walking a painful burden. The calluses, corns, bunions, in- 
growing nails, and repulsive deformities that are caused by and 
hidden under the narrow-toed, high-heeled instruments of torture 
we often wear for fashion's sake are uncomfortable suggestions 
that our practices are not greatly in advance of those of our 
Celestial sisters. Dowie, a sensible Scotch shoemaker, satirizes 
the shape of a fashionable boot as suited only to ' ' the foot of a 
goose with the great toe in the middle." The error which may 
have led to the adoption of this conventional shape appears to 
lie in a misconception of the natural formation of the foot, and 
of the relation of the two feet to each other. It is true, that 
when the toes are covered with their soft parts, the second toe 
appears a little longer than the first, and this appearance, em- 
phasized and exaggerated, is perhaps responsible for a practical 
assumption that Nature intended an even-sided, tapering foot. 
On the contrary, the natural foot gradually expands in breadth 
from the instep to the toes and, in the skeleton itself, the great 
toe is the longest. 

"There is no law^ of beauty," says Dr. Ellis, "which makes 
it necessary to reduce the foot to even-sided symmetr}^. An 
architect required to provide more space on one than on the 
other side of a building would not seek to conceal or even to 
minimize the difference ; he would seek rather to accentuate it, 
and give the two sides of the structure distinctive features .... 
Moreover, the sense of symmetry is, or ought to be, satisfied by 



ATTACHMENT OF THE MUSCLES. 275 

the exact correspondence of the two feet, which, taken jointly, 
may be described as the two halves of an unequally expanded 
dome."— E. B, S. 

THE MUSCLES. 

Attachment of the Muscles to the Bones (p. 30).— One 
of the two bones to which a muscle is attached is usually less 
mobile than the other, so that when the muscle shortens, the 
latter is drawn down against the former. In such a case, the 
point of attachment of the muscle to the less mobile bone is 
called its origin, while the point to which it is fixed on the more 

mobile bone is called its attachment A muscle is not 

always extended between two contiguous bones. Occasionally, 
passing over one bone it attaches itself to the next. This is the 
case with several muscles which, originating from the pelvic 
bone, pass across the upper thigh-bone, and attach themselves 
to the lower thigh-bone. In such cases the muscle is capable of 
two different movements : it can either stretch the knee, pre- 
viously bent, so that the upper and the lower thigh-bones are 
in a straight line ; or it can raise the whole extended leg yet 
higher, and bring it nearer to the pelvis. But the points of 
origin and of attachment of muscles may exchange offices. 
"When both legs stand firmly on the ground, the above-mentioned 
muscles are unable to raise the thigh ; instead, on shortening, 
they draw down the pelvis, which now presents the more 
mobile point, and thus bend forward the whole upper part of 
the body. 

One important consequence of the attachment of the muscles 
to the bones is the extension thus effected. If the limb of a 
dead body is placed in the position which it ordinarilj^ occupied 
during life, and if one end of a muscle is then separated from 
its point of attachment, it draws itself back, and becomes 
shorter. The same thing happens during life, as is observable 
in the operation of cutting the tendons, as practiced by surgeons 
to cure curvatures. The result being the same during life and 
after death, this phenomenon is evidently due to the action of 
elasticity. It thus appears that tbo iniisclos are stre(clu\l b> 
reason of their attachment to the skolotou. and that, on accoum 



276 THE MUSCLES. 

of their elasticity, tliey are continually striving to shorten. 
Now, when several muscles are attached to one bone in such a 
way that they pull in opposite directions, the bone must assume 
a position in which the tension of all the muscles is balanced, 
and all these tensions must combine to press together the 
socketed parts w^th a certain force, thus evidently contributing 
to the strength of the socket connection. . . . This balanced 
position of all the Hmbs, which thus depends on the elasticity 
of the muscles, may be observed during sleep, for then all 
active muscular action ceases. It will be observed that the 
limbs are then generally slightly bent, so that they form very 
obtuse angles to each other. 

Not all muscles are, however, extended between bones. The 
tendons of some pass into soft structmres, such as the muscles 
of the face. In this case, also, the different muscles exercise a 
mutual power of extension, though it is but slight, and they 
thus effect a definite balanced position of the soft parts, as may 
be observed in the position of the mouth-opening in the face. — 
KosEXTHAL, Muscles and Nerves. 

Muscular Fibers (p. 31).— The anatomical composition of 
flesh is very similar in every kind of creature, whether it be the 
muscle of the ox or of the fly ; that is to say, there are certain 
tubes w^hich are filled with minute parts or elements, and the 
adhesion of the tubes together makes up the substance of the 
flesh. These tubes may be represented grossly by imagining the 
finger of a glove, to be called the sarcolemma, or muscle-fiber 
pouch, and this to be so small as not to be apparent to the 
naked eye, but filled with nuclei and the juices peculiar to 
each animal. Hundreds of such fingers attached together 
would represent a bundle of muscular fibers. The tubes are 
of fine tissue, but are tolerably permanent ; whilst the con- 
tents are in direct communication with the circulating blood 
and pursue an incessant course of chemical change and physical 
renewal. — Edwaed Smith, Foods. 

The Smooth Muscle-fibers consist of long spindle-shaped 
cells, the ends of which are frequently spirally twisted, and 
in the center of which exists a long rod-shaped kernel or 
nucleus. Unlike striated muscle, they do not form separate 
muscular masses, but occur scattered, or arranged in more or 



THE SMOOTH MUSCLE-FIBERS. 



277 



less dense layers or strata, in almost all organs.* Arranged in 
regular order, they very frequently form widely extending mem- 
branes, especially in such tube-shaped structures as the blood- 
vessels, the intestine, etc., the walls of which are composed of 
these smooth muscle-fibers. In such cases they are usually ar- 
ranged in two layers, one of which consists of ring-shaped 

Eia. 71. 





Smooth Muscle-flbers {300 trines enlarged). 



fibers surrounding the tube, while the other consists of fibers 
arranged parallel to the tube. When, therefore, these nuiscle- 
fibers contract, they are able both to reduce the circuniforenco 
and to shorten the length of the walls of the tube in which they 
occur. This is of great importance in the case of the smaller 
arteries, in which the smooth muscle-fibers, arranged in the 
form of a ring, are able greatly to contrai't. or even entirely to 
close the vessels, thus regulatiuir the current of blood thrvuigh 



* An instance of a considerable accxiiniilntion ^^'( smooth nuiscle-flbei'S 
is aflPorded by the nniscle-poxich of birds, Avhioh. with tho oxooption of the 
oxiter and inner skin coverings, consists solely of these hbei's collected in 
extensive layers. 



278 THE MUSCLES. 

the capillaries. In other cases, as in the intestine, they serve to 
set the contents of the tubes in motion. In the latter cases the 
contraction does not take place simultaneously throughout the 
length of the tube ; but, commencing at one point, it continually 
propagates itself along fresh lengths of the tube, so that the 
contents are slowly driven forward. 

As a rule, such parts as are provided only with smooth 
muscle-fibers are not voluntarily movable, while striated muscle- 
fibers are subject to the will. The latter have, therefore, been 
also distinguished as voluntary, the former as involuntary 
muscles. The heart, however, exhibits an exception, for, though 
it is provided with striated muscle-fibers, the will has no direct 
influence ujjon it, its motions being exerted and regulated inde- 
pendently of the will. Moreover, the muscle-fibers of the heart 
are peculiar in that they are destitute of sarcolemma, the naked 
muscle-fibers directly touching each other. This is so far inter- 
esting that direct irritations, if applied to some point of the 
heart, are transferred to all the other muscle-fibers. In addition 
to this, the muscle-fibers of the heart are branched, but such 
branched fibers occur also in other places ; for example, in the 
tongue of the frog, where they are branched like a tree. 
Smooth muscle-fibers being, therefore, not subject to the will, 
are caused to contract, either ■ by local irritation, such as the 
pressure of the matter contained within the tubes, or by the 
nervous system. The contractions of striated muscle-fibers are 
effected, in the natural course of organic life, only by the in- 
fluence of the nerves. — Rosenthal. 

Over-exertion and Personal Imprudence (p. 40). — Among 
children there is little danger of over-exertion. AVhen a little 
child reaches ihe point of healthy fatigue, he usually collapses 
into rest and sleep. But with youth comes the spirit of ambi- 
tion and emulation. A lad, for instance, is determined to win 
a race, to throw his opponent in a football scramble, to lift a 
heavier weight than bis strength will warrant ; or a girl is stim 
ulated by the passion she may possess for piano-playing, painting, 
dancing, or tennis. The moment of exhaustion comes, but the 
end is not accomplished, and the will goads on the weary 
muscles, perhaps to one supreme effort which terminates in a 
sharp and sudden illness, perhaps to days and weeks of con- 



OVEE-EXEETION. 279 

tinued and incessant application, during which the whole system 
is undermined. Thus is laid the foundation for a feeble and 
suffering maturity. 

To elderly people, over-exertion has peculiar dangers, de- 
pendent largely upon the changes which gradually take place in 
the tissues of the body. The walls of the blood-vessels become 
less and less elastic, and more and more brittle, as life advances, 
until at last they are ready to give way from any severe or 
unusual pressure. We constantly see old people hastening their 
death by personal imprudence. An old gentleman running to 
catch the morning train ; an old farmer hastening to turn the 
strayed sheep out of a cornfield ; the old sportsman having a 
last run with the hounds ; the last pull at the oars ; the last 
attempt of old age to play at vigorous manhood. 

A prominent American physician has said that between the 
ages of forty and fifty every wise man wilL have ceased to run 
to ' ' catch " trains or street cars ; and that between fifty and 
sixty he will have permanently discarded haste of all kinds. 
Equal precautions should be observed by both young and old, 
but especially by those advanced in life, in regard to extremes 
of heat, cold, or storm. William Cullen Bryant, by exposing him- 
self to a scorching sun and refusing to permit a friend to pro- 
tect him with an umbrella while delivering an address in Cen- 
tral Park, received injuries to his system that carried him to 
his grave. Ralph Waldo Emerson, by standing in a chilling 
wind, contracted a cold and died. George Dawson, by going 
thoughtlessly into a freezing atmosphere from the sweltering- 
rooms of a crowded reception, took cold which resulted in pneu- 
monia and death. Matthew Arnold, for years a sufferer from 
heart difficulty, in a single instance neglected the advice of his 
physician not to indulge in any violent exercise, made repeated 
attempts and finally succeeded in jumping a fence, and in a few 
hours was a dead man. Roscoe Conkling braved the most ter- 
rible blizzard ever known in the east and sacrificed his life. 
And yet, these were all men of exceptional prudence. Probably 
no other five persons in the world of like surroundings an^l vo- 
cations were more careful of their health. In an unguardcil 
moment their prudence left them, and they paid the terrible 
penalty. — Compiled. 



280 THE MUSCLES. 

Efifects of Insufiacient Out-door Exercise upon the 
Young (p. 41).— Children deprived of adequate out-door exercise 
are always delicate, pale, and tender; or, in a figurative sense, 
they are like the sprig of vegetation in a dark, dank hole, — 
bleached and spindling. . . . An inactive in-door life is one of 
the most effectual ways of weakening the young body. It ren- 
ders the growth unnaturally soft and tender, and thus susceptible 
to harm from the slightest causes. It hinders the garnering of 
strength necessary for a long life, and gives to the germs of disease 
a resistless power over an organization so weak and deficient. 
, . . Measles, scarlet fever, and diphtheria find among such a 
congenial soil, and run riot among the elements of the body 
held together by so frail a thread. . . . Such children are always 
at the mercy of the weather. Colds and coughs are standard 
disorders in winter, headaches and habitual languor in summer. 
. . . The scape-goat for this result is the climate : if that was 
only better, mothers are sure their children's health would also 
be better. Xo, it would not be better : no earthly climate is 
good enough to preserve health and strength under such unnat- 
ural training. . . . Children of the laboring classes, often dirty 
and imperfectly clad, seldom have colds, simply for the reason 
that, for the greater part of the day, they have the freedom of 
the streets. It is not the dirt, it is not the rags, hut the life- 
giving force of an active out-door life that renders such children 
so strong and health^:". — Black, Ten Laics of Health, 

Popular Modes of Out-door Exercise (p. 4.2).— Walking.— 
Every person has his own particular step, caused by the con- 
formity, shape, and length of his bones, and the height of his 
body. Such a thing, then, as a regulation step is unnatural, 
and any attempt at equalizing the step of individuals of differ- 
ent heights must result in a loss of power. 

The moment, also, that walking comes to be up-hill, fatigue 
is sensibly increased. The center of gravity of the body is 
changed, and the muscular force necessary to provide for the 
change causes the fixing of the diaphragm, and a rigid condi- 
tion of. many muscles. Respiration is interfered with, owing to 
the fi'yin g of the diaphragm, and the heart becomes affected 
thereby. A person with a sensitive or diseased heart can, 
during a walk, tell when the slightest rise in the ground occurs. 



POPULAR MODES OF EXERCISE. 281 

We make climbing more exhausting from the habit we have of 
suspending the breath. Let the reader hold his breath and run 
up twenty-four steps of a stair, and then perform the same act 
breathing freely and deeply. It will be found that by the first 
act marked breathlessness will be induced, whereas by the latter 
the effect is much less. This management of the breath consti- 
tutes the difference between the beginner and the experienced 
athlete. The enormous increase of the quantity of air consumed 
during exercise will at once bring home a number of lessons. 
One is, that exercise is best taken in the open air, and not in 
gymnasia ; another, that free play to act for the regions of the 
chest and abdomen must be given. On no account must a tight 
belt be worn around the soft-walled abdomen. If a belt is pre- 
ferred to braces, let it be applied below the top of the haunch 
bone, where the bones can resist the pressure. 

Whatever may be the pastimes indulged in by young men, 
walking should never be neglected. The oarsman will become 
"stale" unless the method of exercise is varied; the gymnast 
will develop the upper part of his body, while his lower ex- 
tremities will remain spindle-shanks. So with all other forms 
of exercise ; success, in any form of ganie, sport, or g^^Tnnastic 
training, can not be attained unless walking be freely taken. 

Skating is simply an exaggerated swinging walk, with this 
difference, that the foot on which one rests is not stationary, 
but moves along at a rapid rate. The benefit to the circulation, 
respiration, and digestion is even greater in skating than in 
walking. The dangers from skating are : 

1. The giving away of the ice. Q-reat caution should be used 
in regard to the safety of a frozen pond or river. 

2. Taking cold from becoming overheated, and from subse- 
quent inactive exposure. Physiological knowledge will teach 
people that, when they begin to skate, outer wi'aps should be 
laid aside, and again put on when skating is finished. 

3. Sprains, especially of the ankle, and other minor accidents 
arising from falls. Ankle-boots with strong uppei-s should be 
worn during skating. Those who liave weak ankles ought to 
wear skates with ankle-straps and but'kles. ai'ino skates being 
relegated to those who are not afraid of going "over their 
foot." 



282 THE MUSCLES. 

Bowing. — The muscles employed in rowing may be summed 
up under two heads — those that are used in the forward swing, 
and those used in the backward. In the forward sv^dng all the 
joints of the lower extremity, the hip, knee, and ankle, are 
flexed ; the shoulder is brought forward ; the elbow is straight- 
ened ; and the wrist is first extended and then flexed, in feather- 
ing the oar. The body is bent forward by the muscles in front 
of the abdomen and spinal column. In the hoxkward movement 
the reverse takes place ; the lower extremity, the hip, knee, and 
ankle are straightened ; the shoulder is pulled back ; the elbow 
is flexed ; and the wrist is held straight. The body is bent 
backward by the muscles at the lower part of the back, and by 
those of the spine in general. It will be seen that the enormous 
number of joints put into use, and the varjang positions em- 
ployed, call into play nearly every muscle of the limbs and 
trunk. Rowing gives more work to the muscles of the back 
than any other kind of exercise. This is of the first importance 
to both men and women, but especially to women. The chief 
work of the muscles of the back is to support the body in the 
erect position, and the better they are developed the better will 
the carriage be, and the less likelihood of stooping shoulders, 
contracted chests, and the like. Now, the work of the muscles 
in supporting the body is largely relegated in women to the 
stays, and, in consequence, the muscles undergo wasting and 
fatty degeneration, in fact, atrophy ; so that when the stays 
are left off, the muscles are unfit to support the body. Rowing 
exerciser these muscles condemned to waste,- and imparts a nat- 
ural carriage to the girl's frame. In rowing, as in horseback 
riding, the clothing should be loose, stays left off, and flannels 
worn next the skin. The dress itself should be of woolen, and 
there should always be in the boat a large wrap to use when 
one stops rowing. The following practical rules should be ob- 
served by rowers : 

1. Never row after a full meal. 

2. Stop when fatigue comes on. 

3. Allow the breath to escape while the oar is in the water. 
A novice usually holds his breath at each stroke, and pulls so 
rapidly that in a few minutes he becomes breathless, and is 
forced to stop. Not only is this uncomfortable, but it is dan- 



POPULAE MODES OF EXERCISE. 283 

gerous. In the case of both young and old, it may give rise to 
an abdominal rupture (hernia), dilation of the cavities of the 
heart, rupture of a heart-valve, varicose veins, etc. Instead of 
fixing the diaphragm and holding the breath during the time of 
pulling, as novices are apt to do, do exactly the opposite. Let 
the diaphragm go loose, and allow the breath to escape. 

4. Change the clothing from the skin outv^ard as soon as 
the day's rowing is finished. 

5. Before retiring for the night, have a warm bath, temper- 
ature 92° Fahr. This is a specific against the aches and muscu- 
lar stiffness which often follow a long pull on the water. 

Swirammg. — A word of warning is necessary in regard to 
those learning to svn.m in rivers. Boys at school, when they 
take to river bathing, often carry it to a dangerous extent. 
They get into the water, and now in, now out on the bank, 
sometimes remain for hours. This may take place day after 
day, and if the weather continues warm and the holidays last 
long enough, the boy may reduce himself to the lowest ebb of 
feebleness, and possibly develop the seeds of latent disease. He 
may even die from the effects of this prolonged immersion and 
mad-cap exposure. 

The muscular exertion undergone during swimming, espe- 
cially by those who swim only occasionally, is very great. The 
experienced swimmer conserves his strength, as do proficients at 
all feats, but the occasional swimmer, like the occasional rower, 
puts forth treble the energy required, and soon becomes ex- 
hausted. In the first place, it is a new act for tlie muscles to 
perform ; they are taken off from the beaten tracks, and are 
grouped together in new associations ; hence they lack adjust- 
ment and adaptation. Again, as in other feats for which one 
is untrained, the heart and lungs do not work in time. Ease 
and speed in swimming depend upon the attainment of harmony 
in the working of the muscles, heart, and lungs. 

Diving is an accomplishment attached to swimming, which 
involves many dangers, and is well-nigh useless. The customary 
dive off a spring-board into the shallow water of a swimming- 
bath is dangerous in the extreme. The only place wlicrt^ diving 
should be attempted is into deep water, at least fifteen or 
twenty feet, where there is no danger of striking the bottom. 



284 THE MUSCLES. 

Laivn-Tennis. — Of all modern inventions in the way of 
games, lawn-tennis is the best. 

The dangers attendant on lawn-tennis are : — 

1. Over-exertion, causing rupture and deranged circulation, 
especially in the case of those with weak hearts, or those who, 
being out of condition, ' or too fat, suddenly engage in the game 
too long or too violently. 

2. Kupture of the tendon of Achilles, from taking a sudden 
bound. In such an accident the subject falls down, with a sen- 
sation as if struck with a club on the leg. 

3. Rupture of one of the heads of the biceps in the arm. 
Here the arm drops helplessly, and a muscular knob rises up 
on the inner and upper part of the arm. 

4. The tennis arm. This trouble arises from the method of 
manipulating the bat. The pain is felt over the upper end of 
the radius. 

Many of the strains, ruptured tendons, and torn muscles in 
tennis-players are caused by the want of heels to tennis shoes. 
As, ordinarily, we walk on heels which vary from half an inch 
to an inch, there must b& a considerable extra strain thrown on 
the muscles of the calf of the leg, when the heels are left off. 
Especially during a sudden spring is this apparent, when to rise 
from off the heels on to the toes requires a greatly increased 
force. Tennis shoes should therefore have fairly-deep, broad 
heels. 

Horseback Riding is a mixed exercise, partly active and 
partly passive, the lower parts of the body being in some meas- 
ure employed, while the upper parts in easy cantering are 
almost wholly relaxed. It is peculiarly suited to dyspeptics, 
from its direct action upon the abdominal viscera, the contents 
of which are stimulated by the continued agitation and succus- 
sion, consequent on the motion in riding. 

Bicycling and Tricycling. — While strongly recommending 
bicycling to men, and tricycling to both men and women in 
health, those suffering from heart or lung affections, ruptures, 
scrofula, joint disease, or like maladies, should not indulge in 
them without medical sanction. For abdominal complaints, 
such as dyspepsia, congestion of the liver, constipation, and the 
like, the exercise is excellent. 



THE HAIR. 285 

Base-Ball is an essentially American game, which brings 
into play nearly all the muscles of the body. Its chief danger 
Hes in being hit by the hard, forcibly pitched ball, and, for 
weak persons, in the violence of the exercise. 

Foot-Ball is a rough-and-tumble game, suited only to that 
class of boys and men, who, brimming over with animal life, 
take small heed of the accidents liable to occur. 

Light and Heavy Gymnastics. — For wet weather, and when 
out-door exercise is not practicable, gymnastics are most advis- 
able. Boys and girls, at the age of fifteen or sixteen, often 
shoot up and become tall and lanky ; they want filling out, and 
are troubled with growing pains. Even men, when tall and 
thin, are seldom very erect, their muscles are too weak ; and 
there is only one way of overcoming this weakness — by exercis- 
ing them. Nothing more is wanted than a pair of very light 
Indian clubs, a pair of light wooden dumb-bells, a long wooden 
rod, and a pair of wooden rings, — the last for combined exer- 
cises. Indeed, a systema ic motion of the body itself, without 
any extra artificial resistance, is quite sufficient for the purposes 
of physical education. In nearly all our large cities are found 
gymnasia, provided with competent instructors, and every facil- 
ity for both light and heavy gymnastics. Exercise in a gym- 
nasium is open to the objection of being too brief and too severe, 
and of simply causing an increase of muscular development. 
Besides, it is generally unequal in its results, being better adapted 
to the cultivation of strength in the upper extremities and 
portion of the body than in the lower. Nevertheless, during 
inclement weather, or with persons in whom the muscles of the 
arms and chest are defective, moderate gymnastic exercise is far 
better than no exercise.— (7o?wp*fecZ. {Mostly from ''The Influence 
of Exercise" in The Book of Health.) 



THE SKIN. 

The Hair (p. 52). — Baldness, and its (Yiuses.—yariows^ reasons 
aro assigiuHl for the baldness which is so prevalent among ciMu- 
paratively young iucmi in our cinmtrv. C^ne writer says: "The 
premature baldness and grayness oi' the Americans as a pt\^ple 



286 THE SKI^^ 

is in great measure owing to the non-observance of hygienic 
rules, and to excess of mental and physical labor in a climate 
foreign to the race.'" Others attribute it to the close un venti- 
lated hats commonly worn by men. Dr. Nichols, in the Popular 
Science News, gives his opinion thus : 

"In our view, it is largely due to modern methods of treat- 
ment of the hair and scalp. The erroneous idea prevails, that 
the skin which holds the hair-follicles and the dehcate secretory 
organs of the scalp must be kept as ' clean,' so to speak, as the 
face or hands ; consequently young inen patronize barbers or 
hair-dressers, and once or twice a week they have what is called 
a 'shampoo' operation performed. This consists in a thorough 
scouring of the hair and scalp with dilute ammonia, water, and 
soap, so that a heavy 'lather' is produced, and the glandular 
secretions, which are the natural protection of the hair, and 
promotive of its growth, are saponified and removed. No act 
could be more directly destructive of a healthy growth of hair 
than this. . . . "Women do not shampoo or wash the hair as 
often as the other sex, and consequently they are in a large 
degree exempt from baldness in middle life. It is true, how- 
ever, that many women in cities make frequent visits to the 
hair-dressers, and subject their tresses to the ' scouring ' process. 
If this becomes common, it will not be long before baldness will 
overtake the young mothers as well as the fathers, and the time 
will be hastened when even children will have no hair to destroy 
with ammonia or other caustic cosmetics. 

' ' The advice we have to offer to young men and maidens 
is, — let your hair alone ; keep at a safe distance from hair-dress- 
ing rooms and drug-shops, where are sold oils,- alkaline sub- 
stances, alcoholic mixtures, etc., for use upon the hair. They are 
all pernicious, and will do you harm. The head and hair may 
be washed occasionally with soft, tepid water, without soap of 
any kind. As a rule, the only appliances needed in the care of 
the hair are good combs and brushes ; and they should not be 
used harshly, so as to wound the scalp. Avoid all ' electric ' and 
wire-made brushes. No electricity can be stored in a hair-brush : 
if it could be, it is not needed." 

Sudden Blanching of the Hair from Violent Emotions. — The 
color of the hair depends mainly upon the presence of pigment 



THE HAIR. 287 

granules, which range in tint from a hght yellow to an intense 
black. A recent investigator has succeeded in extracting the 
coloring matter of the hair, and has found that all the different 
shades are produced by the mixture of three primary colors — 
red, yellow, and black. "In the pure golden yellow hair there 
is only the yellow pigment ; in red hair the red pigment is 
mixed with more or less yellow, producing the various shades 
of red and orange ; in dark hair the black is always mixed with 
yellow and red, but the latter are overpowered by the black ; 
and it seems that even the blackest hair, such as that of the 
negro, contains as much red pigment as the very reddest hair." 
Hence, "if in the negro the black pigment had not been de- 
veloped, the hair of all negroes would be a fiery red." — Dk. C. 
H. Leonard, The Hair: Its Diseases and Treatment. 

The gradual disappearance of this pigment causes the gray 
or white hair of old age. This natural change in color does 
not necessarily denote loss of vitality in the hair, as it often 
continues to grow as vigorously as before it began to whiten. 
Cases of sudden blanching of the hair from extreme grief or 
terror are often quoted, — those of Sir Thomas More and of 
Marie Antoinette being well-known instances in point. An 
interesting circumstance has been discovered with regard to such 
cases, namely, that the change of color is not dependent upon 
the disappearance of the pigment of the hair, which always 
takes place slowly, but upon the sudden development in its 
interior of a number of air-bubbles, that hide and destroy the 
effect of the pigment, which itself remains unaltered. Dr. Lan- 
dois mentions the case of a German printer whom he attended, 
at a hospital, in the summer of 1865. 

This man had long been intemperate in his habits, in conse- 
quence of which he was seized with delirium tremens. The de- 
hrium, as is usual in such cases, was of an extremely terrifying 
nature, and lasted four days. On the evening of the fourth day 
the hair was unaltered, but on the morning of the fifth the dt^ 
lirium had disappeared, and his hair, which pnnicMisly was fair, 
had become gray. It was examined with the microscope, when 
it was found that the pigment was still present, but that the 
central streak of each was filled with air-bubbles. 

How this superabundance of air finds its way into the hair 



288 THE SKI X. 

in these cases of sudden blanching, physiologists have not yet 
been able satisfactorily to explain. — In this connection, however, 
it may be observed that air-bubbles exist, more or less, in all 
hair, mingled with the pigment granules. 

The feathers of birds owe their bright colors to an oily secre- 
tion corresponding to the pigment in hair, and microscopical 
observation has revealed the fact that when these colors fade 
the oily secretion disappears, and is replaced by air. That ex- 
treme terror may blanch feathers as well as hair is shown in 
the case of a poor httle starling, which upon being rescued from 
the claws of a cat became suddenlj^ w^hite. 

The Nails (p. 54).— The nails are mere modifications of the 
scarfskin, their horny appearance and feeling 'being due to the 
fact that the scales or plates of which they are composed are 
much harder and more closely packed. The root of the nail lies 
embedded, to the extent of about the tw^elfth part of an inch, 
in a fold of the sensitive skin, and, as may be observed from 
an inspection of the part, the scarfskin is not exactly contin- 
uous with the nail, but projects a little above it, forming a 
narrow margin. 

The nail, like the scarfskin, rests upon, and is intimately 
connected with, a structure almost identical with the sensitive 
skin ; this is, however, thrown into ridges, which run parallel 
to one another, except at the back part, where they radiate from 
the center of the root. On examining the surface of the nail, a 
semicircular whitish portion is detected near its root ; its color 
is dependent upon the fact that the ridges there contain fewer 
blood-vessels, and therefore less blood, and on account of its 
half-moon shape it is called the lunula. 

The nail is constantly increasing in length, owing to the 
formation of new cells at the root, which push it forward, while 
the increase in its thickness is due to the secretion of new cells 
from the sensitive layer beneath, so that the farther the nail 
grows from the root, the thicker it becomes. Its nutrition, and 
consequently its growth, suffers in disease, the portion growing 
during disease being thinner than that gro^ving in health ; and 
accordingly a transverse groove is seen upon the nail, corre- 
sponding to the time of an illness. It will thus be seen that by 
a mere examination of the nail we can astonish our friends by 



BATHS AND BATHING, 289 

telling them when they have been ill ; and it has been estimated 
that the nail of the thumb grows from its root to its free ex- 
tremity in five months, that of the great toe in twenty months, 
so that a transverse groove in the middle of the former indicates 
an illness about two and a half months before, and in the mid- 
dle of the latter, about ten months. 

The culture of the nails, which when perfect constitute so 
great a beauty, is of much importance ; but the tendency is to 
injure them by too much attention. The scissors should never 
be used except to pare the free edges when they have become 
ragged or too long, and the folds of scarfskin which overlap 
the roots should not, as a rule, be touched, unless they be 
frayed, when the torn edges may be snipped off, so as to pre- 
vent their being torn further, which may cause much pain, and 
even inflammation. The upper surfaces of the nails should on 
no account be touched with the knife, as is so often done, the 
nail-brush being amply sufficient to keep them clean, without 
impairing their smooth and polished surfaces. — Hinton. 

Baths and Bathing (p. 65). — Physical Cleanliness Promotes 
Moral Purity. — The old adage that cleanliness is next to godli- 
ness, must have had its origin in the feeling of moral elevation 
which generally accompanies scrupulous bodily purity. Frequent 
bathing promotes purity of mind and morals. The man who is 
accustomed to be physically clean shrinks instinctively from 
contact with all uncleanliness. Personal neatness, when grown 
into a habit, draws after it so many excellences, that it may 
well be called a social virtue. "Without it, refined intercourse 
would be impossible ; for its neglect not only indicates a want 
of proper self-respect, but a disrespect of the feelings of others 
which argues a low tone of the moral sense. All nations, as 
they advance in civilization and refinement of manners, pay in- 
creased attention to the puritj" of the person. 

What, then, shall we say of people who, after all that has 
been said and written upon the subject, seldom or never bathe, 
who allow the pores of the skin to get blocked up with a com- 
bination of dust and perspired matter, whirh is as effectual in 
its way as plaster to the walls of a building? Conld they but 
once be tempted to taste the dehghts which arise from a per- 
fectly clean and well-acting skin ; the cheerfuhiess. nav. the 



290 THE SKIN. 

feeling of moral as well as physical elevation, which accom- 
panies the sense of that cleanliness, they would soon esteem the 
little time and trouble spent in the bath, and in the proper care 
of the surface of the body, as time and labor very well spent. — 
Dr. Strange. 

The feet, particularly, should receive daily attention, if it be 
no more than a vigorous rubbing with a wet cloth, followed hy 
a dry one. After a long walk, also, nothing is more refresh- 
ing, especially in summer, than a generous foot-bath in cool or 
tepid water, followed by an entire change in shoes and stock- 
ings. This is really a necessary precaution, if the feet have 
become wet from the dampness of the ground ; and if the walk 
has heated the body so that the stockings are moist with per- 
spiration, it is not only an act of prudence, but an instinct of 
personal neatness. 

Ancient Greek and Roman Baths. — From the earliest historic 
times the necessity for frequent and thorough ablution has been 
recognized by artificial provisions for this purpose. The G-reeks 
had "steaming baths" and "fragrant anointing oils," as far 
back as Homer's time, a thousand years before Christ, but the 
Romans surpassed all preceding and subsequent nations by their 
magnificent and luxuriously equipped Thermse, in which a bath 
cost less than a cent, and was often free. A full Roman bath 
included hot air, dry rubbing, hot, tepid, and cold water im- 
mersions, scraping vdth bronze instruments, and anointing with 
precious perfumes. 

The Modern Bussian and Turkish haths are the nearest ap- 
proaches we have to the Roman bath. These are found in 
nearly all our larger cities. 

The Turkish Bath is conducted in a modified form in this 
country, generally with hot air instead of steam. Its frequent 
use not only tends to keep the body in a state of perfect clean- 
liness, but it imparts a clear, fresh color to the complexion 
which is hardly attained by other means. 

"Its most important effect," says a writer in the Popular 
Science Monthly, "is the stimulation of the emunctory action of 
the skin. By this means we are enabled to wash as it were the 
sohd and fluid tissues, and especially the blood and skin, by 
passing water through them from within outward to the surface 



BATHS AND BATHING. 291 

of the body. Hence, in practice, one of the most essential requi- 
sites is copious draughts of water during the sweating." 

During the operation of a Turkisli bath, the novice is often 
astonished at the amount of effete matter ehminated from the 
pores of the skin. "A surprising quantity of scarf skin, which 
no washing could remove, peels off, especially if a glove of 
camel's-hair or goat's-hair be used, as they are in the East, 
where also the soles of the feet are scraped with pumice. The 
deposit of this skin of only a week's date, when collected, ig 
often as large as one's fist. Much more solid matter is contained 
in the perspiration of those who take the bath for the first time, 
or after a long interval. Nothing escapes through the skin, 
save what is noxious if retained. This bath should never be 
used in case of advanced lung diseases, great debility, acute in- 
flammations, or persons who labor under any form of heart 
disease; but I think its influence is directly curative in rheu- 
matic, gouty, and scrofulous afl'ections, some skin diseases, and 
the earlier stages of feverish colds and ague. It is said to have 
calming effects in the treatment of insanity, and the use of it 
was suggested from the heavy smell the skin of persons thus 
afflicted often has." — Mapother's Lectures on PuUic Health. 

A somewhat heroic bath, used in Siberia to drive away a 
threatened fever, consists of a thorough parboiling, within an 
inch or two of a steaming furnace, after which the subject is 
"drubbed and flogged for about half an hour with a bundle of 
birch twigs, leaf and all." A douche of cold water is then 
dashed over the exhausted bather, when he is ready to be put 
into bed. 

Sea-bathing. — Before the age of seven years, and after fifty- 
five, sea-baths should be used with the greatest caution. .\.ll 
persons unaccustomed to sea-bathing should begin with a warm 
or tepid bath, in-doors, proceeding by degrees to the cold in- 
door bath, and then to the open sea. 

The sea-bath should be taken, if possible, when the sun is 
shining, when the water has been warnuHl b\- contact with the 
heated sands, and never during the digestiini of the principal 
meal, or late in the evening. *lniniediatel>- on plunging into 
the water, which need not, except in persons ot full habit, cover 
the head, brisk motion of some kind should bo used. Those 



292 THE SKIK. 

who can swim should do so ; those who can not, should make 
as much exertion of the limbs as possible, or rub the body with 
their hands. The dehcate, and particularly those who are recov- 
ering from illness, should remove from the bath as soon as the 
glow arrives; or, if that be not felt at all, then after one plunge. 

Banger in Bathing when Overheated. — It is unwise to bathe 
when copious perspiration has continued for an hour or more, 
unless the heat of the weather be excessive, or the sweating has 
been induced by loading with clothes, rather than by exertion. 
When much perspiration has been produced by muscular exer- 
cise, it is unsafe to bathe, because the body is so fatigued and 
exhausted, that the reaction can not be insured, and the effect 
may be to congest the internal organs, and notably the nerve- 
centers. The last gives cramp. If the weather be chilly, or 
there be a cold wind, so that the body may be rapidly cooled 
at the surface while undressing, it is not safe to bathe. Under 
such conditions, the further chill of immersion in cold water 
will take place at the precise moment at which the reaction 
consequent upon the chill of exposure by undressing ought to 
take place, and this second chill will not only delay or alto- 
gether prevent the reaction, but will convert the bath from a 
mere stimulant to a depressant, ending in the abstraction of a 
large amount of animal heat and congestion of the internal 
organs and nerve-centers. The aim must be to avoid two chills, 
and to make sure that the body is in such a condition as to 
secure a quick reaction on emerging from the water, without 
relying too much on the possible effect of friction hj rubbing. 
The actual temperature of the water does not affect the ques- 
tion so much as its relative temperature in comparison with 
that of the surrounding air. It ought to be much lower than 
that of the air. These maxims receive a striking re-enforcement 
from the case of a young soldier who a few days ago plunged 
into the river near Manchester, England, after having heated 
himself by rowing. He was immediately taken with cramps, 
and was drowned. When taken out, his body was found 
"twisted," and the vessels of his head showed every evidence 
of congestion. — Popular Science Monthly, September, 1883. 

Bather's Cramp. — Cramp is a painful and tonic muscular 
spasm. It may occur in any part of the body, but it is espe- 



BATHS AND BATHING. 293 

cially apt to take place in the lower extremities, and in its 
milder forms it is limited to a single m.uscle. The pain is severe, 
and the contracted muscles are hard and exquisitely tender. In 
a few minutes the spasm and pain cease, leaving a local sensa- 
tion of fatigue and soreness. When cramp affects only one ex- 
tremity, no swimmer or bather endowed with average presence 
of mind need drown ; but when cramp seizes the whole of the 
voluntary muscular system, as it probably does in the worst 
cases, nothing in the absence of prompt and efficient extraneous 
assistance can save the individual from drowning.* Prolongation 
of muscular exertion, as in continued swimming, and forcible 
and sudden musuclar exertion, as in swimming with very vigor- 
ous and rapid strokes, are efficient and frequent causes of 
cramp. These muscular conditions, however, usually give rise 
only to the slighter and more localized forms. Serious craihp 
is a peril which menaces most persons with highly developed 
muscles. Its most powerful and most avoidable cause is the 
sudden immersion of the body, when its surface is highly 
heated, in water of a relatively low temperature. — Popular 
Science News. 

Protection of the Ear in Sea-bathing. — Special attention should 
be paid by bathers to the exclusion of salt water from the mouth 
and ears. Many cases of inflammation of the ear, followed by 
severe and lasting trouble, even to deafness, are chargeable to 
the neglect of this precaution. In-coming waves should never 
be received in the face or the ears, and the sea-water which 
enters the ears when floating or diving should be wiped cut by 
soft cotton ; indeed, the best plan is to plug the openings of the 
ears with cotton, which is to be kept there during the bath.— 
Science. 

How one who Knoics not how to Swim can Escape Prowning. — 
It is well for every one to learn the art of swimming, yet it is 

* Even this is often unavailable, as in the case of the Cornell Univer- 
sity post-gradnate drowned in Hall Creek, Ithaea, Jnne 10, 18SS. In this 
instance the day was liot and oppressive, at\d the victim sank soon after 
entcrinL>- the water. " His companioiis at once hastened to his relief, and 
recovered his body in a few niiniites. Professor Wilder, of the T'^nivei'siry, 
was hurriedly sumn^oned, and every possible method was resorted to in 
order to induce respiration, but the vital spark had tied. An attack of 
cramps is supposed to have been the cause of drowning.'" 



294 THE SKIN. 

a knowledge possessed by comparatively few people. Mr. Henry 
MacCormac, a writer in Nature, gives some common sense in- 
structions that, if heeded, may be of great service to those per- 
sons who, not knowing how to swim, may find themselves ac- 
cidentally precipitated into the water. We condense from his 
article, adding some directions, as follows: 

In order to escape drowning, it is necessary only to do as 
the brute does, namely, to walk or tread the water. The brute 
has no advantage over man in regard to his relative weight, 
and yet the man perishes while the brute survives. The igno- 
rance of so simple a possibility as that of treading water strikes 
me as one of the most singular things in the history of man. 
Perhaps something is to be ascribed to the vague meaning which 
is attached to the word Sivim. The dog is wholly incapable of 
stcimming as a man swims, but nothing is more certain than 
that a man, without previous training or instruction, can swim 
just as a dog swims, and that by so doing without fear or hes- 
itancy, he will be just as safe as is the dog. The brute thus 
circumstanced continues to go on all fours, as if he were on 
land, keeping Ms head' well out of the water. So with the man 
who wishes to save his life and can not otherwise swim. He 
must strike alternately, with hand and foot, — one, two, one, two, 
— without hurry or precipitation, exactly as the brute does. 
Whether he be provided with paw or hoof, the beast swims with 
perfect ease and buoyancy. So, too, can the human being, if he 
will, with the further immense advantage of having a paddle- 
formed hand, and of being able, when tired, to rest himself by 
floating, an act of which the animal has no conception. The 
printed direction should be pasted up in all boat-houses, on every 
boat, at every bathing-place, and in every school : Tread water 
when you find yourself out of your depth. This is all that need 
be said, unless, indeed, we add : Float ivhen you are tired. To 
float, one needs only to turn upon his back, keeping — as always 
when in the water — the mouth and chin well up and the lungs 
full of air. — Every one of us, of whatever age and however 
encumbered with clothing, may tread water, even in a breaking 
sea, with as much facility as a four-footed animal. The position 
of the water-treader is, really, very much safer and better than 
the sprawling attitude of the ordinary swimmer. But the chief 



HINTS ON CLOTHING. 295 

advantage lies in the fact that we can tread water without pre- 
hminary teaching, whereas, though we recommend all to learn 
how to swim, it involves time and pains, entails considerable 
fatigue, and is, after all, very seldom adequately acquired. 

Hints on Clothing (p. Q7).—Advardag6S of Woolen Fabrics. 
— Wool is more irritating than cotton, on account of the stiff- 
ness of the hairs with which it bristles ; but the excitation it 
produces becomes a therapeutic means whenever the skin needs 
a stimulant. 

The use of wool is particularly desirable in some countries 
and under some conditions of life. Professor Brocchi, a writer 
well known for his investigations in malaria, attributes the good 
health and vigor of the ancient Romans to their habit of wear- 
ing coarse woolen clothes ; when they began to disuse them, and 
to wear lighter goods and silks, they became less vigorous and 
less able to resist the morbid influence of bad air. It was at 
about the time the women began to dress in notably fine tissues 
that the insalubrity of the Roman air began first to be com- 
plained of. "In the English army and navy," says Dr. Balestra, 
"the soldiers of garrisons in unhealthy places are obliged con- 
stantly to wear wool next to the skin, and to cover themselves 
with sufficient clothing, for protection against paludine fevers, 
dysentery, cholera, and other diseases." According to Patissier, 
similar measures have been found effectual in preserving the 
health of workmen employed on dikes, canals, and ditches, in 
marshy lands ; while, previous to the employment of these pre- 
cautions, mortality from fevers was considerable among them. 

Dr. Balestra has proved by direct experiments in marshy 
regions that thick and hairy woolen garments arrest in their 
down a portion of the germs borne in by the air, which thus 
reaches the skin filtered and purified. The ancient Romans 
wore ample over-garments over their tunics, and never put them 
away. It is no less important to be well covered during the 
night ; and precautions of this kind should be recommended to 
all who live in a swampy country. We are sometimes aston- 
ished when we see the natives of particularly warm covmtries 
enveloped in woolen, as the Arab in his burnooso. or the Span- 
ish peasant in his tobacco-colored cloak. Such materials protect 
both against the rays of the sun and against the coolness of the 



296 THE SKIN. 

night, and are excellent regulators of heat. It is dangerously 
imprudent to travel in southern countries without provision of 
warm clothing. — Revue des Deux Mondes. 

Weight is not Warmth. — While speaking of the warmth of 
clothing for inclement weather, 'it would be incorrect not to 
speak of weight in relation to warmth. Many persons naistake 
weight for warmth, and thus feeble people are actually borne 
do\\Ti and weakened by the excess of heavy clothing v;fhich is 
piled on them. Grood woolen or fur fabrics retain the heat, and 
yet are light. AYhen fabrics intended for sustaining warmth are 
made up of cotton, the mistake of accepting weight for warmth 
is made. The same errors are often made in respect to bed- 
coverings, and with the same results. 

Poisonously Dyed Clothing. — The introduction of wearing ap- 
parel, socks, stockings, and flannels which have been made, by 
new processes of dyeing, to assume a rich red or yellow color, 
has led to a local disease of the skin, attended, in rare cases, 
with slight constitutional symptoms. This disease is due to the 
dye-stuffs. The chief poisonous dyes are the red and yellow 
coralline, substances derived from that series of chemical bodies 
which have been obtained of late years from coal tar, and com- 
monly known as the aniline series. 

The coloring principle is extremely active as a local poison. 
It induces on the skin a reddish, slightly raised eruption of mi- 
nute round pimples which stud the reddened surface, and which, 
if the irritation be severe and long-continued, pass into vesicles 
discharging a thin watery ichor and producing a superficial sore. 
The disease is readily curable if the cause of it be removed, and, 
as a general rule, it is purely local in character. ' I have, how- 
ever, once seen it pass beyond the local stage. A young gen- 
tleman consulted me for what he considered was a rapidly "de- 
veloped attack of erysipelas on the chest and back. He was, 
indeed, covered with an intensely red rash, and he was affected 
with ner^^ous symptoms, with faintness and depression of pulse, 
of a singular and severe kind. I traced both the local eruption 
and the general malady to the effect of the organic dye in a red 
woolen chest and back "comforter." On removing the "com- 
forter" all the symptoms ceased. Similar and even fatal cases 
have been known from the wearing of highly colored hose. 



THE VOCAL ORGANS. 297 

Undeanliness of Dress. — Uncleanly attire creates conditions 
favorable to disease. Clothing worn too long at a time becomes 
saturated with the excretions and exhalations of the body, and, 
by preventing the free transpiration from the surface of the 
skin, induces oppression of the physical powers and mental in- 
activity. This observation will be accepted by most persons as 
true in respect to under-clothing ; it is equally true in regard to 
those outer garments which are often worn, unremittingly, until 
the linings, torn and soiled, are unfit altogether for contact with 
the cleaner garments beneath them. Health will not be clothed 
in dirty raiment. They who wear such raiment suffer from 
trains of minor complaints ; from oppression, dullness, head- 
ache, nausea, which, though trifling in themselves, taken one by 
one, when put together greatly reduce that standard of perfect 
health by which the value of life is correctly and effectively 
maintained.— RiCHAKDSON. 

RESPI RATION. 

The Vocal Organs.— ikfusicaZ Tones in Speaking (p. 76). — 
Voice is divided into singing and speaking voice. One differs 
from the other almost as much as noises do from musical 
sounds. In speaking, the sounds are too short to be easily ap- 
preciable, and are not separated by fixed and regular intervals, 
like those of singing ; they are linked together, generally by 
insensible transitions ; they are not united by the fixed relations 
of the gamut, and can only be noted with difficulty. That it is 
the short duration of speaking sounds which distinguishes them 
from those of singing, is proved by this, that if we prolong the 
intonation of a syllable, or utter it like a note, the nuisical 
sound becomes evident. So, if we pronounce all the syllables 
of a phrase in the same tone, the speaking voice closely resem- 
bles psalm-singing. Every one must hcnc^ noticed this in hear- 
ing school-boys recite or read in i\ i\\o\\o{o\k\ and the analogy 
is complete wlu^n the last two or three syllables are pronounced 
in a different tone. Spoken voice is. moreover, always a chant 
more or less marked, according to tlu^ individual and the senti- 
ment wl\i('h the words express. ... it is relatoii of (1 retry, 
that he anuised himself by noting as exactly as possible the 



298 EESPIRATION. 

"Bon jour, monsieur!" (Grood-day, sir!) of the persons who 
visited him ; and these words expressed by their intonation, in 
fact, the most opposite sentiments, in spite of the constant iden- 
tity of the hteral sense. 

Speech without a Tongue.— De Jussieu relates that he saw a 
girl fifteen years old, in Lisbon, who was born without a 
tongue, and yet who spoke so distinctly as not to excite in the 
minds of those who hstened to her the least suspicion of the 
absence of that organ. 

The Transactions of the Royal Society of London (1742) con- 
tain an account cf a woman who had not the slightest vestige 
of a tongue, but who could, notwithstanding, drink, eat, and 
speak as well and as distinctly as any one, and even articulate 
the words in singing. Other instances have been known where 
individuals, after losing a portion of the tongue by accident or 
disease, have again been able to speak after a longer or shorter 
period. — Le Pileue. 

Stimulants and the Voice. — "The Drinker's Throat" is a 
recognized pathological condition, and the Germans have a 
popular phrase, "He drinks his throat away." Isambert has 
pointed out the directly local irritant effect of both alcohol and 
tobacco on the throat, and also the mode by which these agents, 
on absorption into the system, re-manifest their presence by 
predisposing to local pharyngeal inflammations. Dr. Krishaber 
affirms: "It is generally admitted that alcoholic beverages and 
tobacco irritate the mucous membrane of the throat, directly 
affect the voice, and leave on it ineffaceable traces. "We hold 
with equal certainty that tea and coffee, although not directly 
affecting the voice, do so indirectly by acting on the nervous 
system, and through it the vocal organs, as well as by some 
general nervous derangement not very pronounced, but great 
enough to deprive the singer of the full powers and capabilities 
of his voice." 

Dr. Mackenzie says: "The influence of the general health 
upon the voice is very marked. Alcohol and tobacco should 
never be used. The hoarse tones of the confirmed votary of 
Bacchus are due to chronic infiammation of the lining mem- 
brane of the larynx ; the originally smooth surface being rough- 
ened and thickened by the irritation of alcohol, the vocal cords 



ABDOMINAL RESPIEATION. 299 

have less freedom of movement, and their vibrations are 
blurred, or rather muffled, by the unevenness of their contigu- 
ous edges. " 

A young American lady of marked musical gifts once asked 
Adelina Patti's advice upon preparing for the stage. She found 
the great singer wrapped in furs, although the weather was not 
severe. After hearing her visitor, Patti replied: "Are you 
willing to give up every thing for your art? If you wish to 
succeed, you must learn to eat moderately, take no stimulants 
— not even tea or coffee — keep as regular hours as possible con- 
sistent with your public appearance, and even deny yourself the 
luxury of friends. When you hear of a great vocalist giving 
extravagant wine-suppers, you may be sure that the singer her- 
self takes nothing. To be a successful artiste you must be 
married, soul and body, to your art." Like the young man to 
whom Christ spake, the young woman "went away sorrowful," 
and, balancing the terms, concluded to forego the contest. 

Abdominal Respiration (p. 81). — It has often been stated 
that the respiration of woman differs from that of man, in 
being limited almost entirely to the chest. In order to investi- 
gate this subject scientifically, Dr. Mays, of Philadelphia, de- 
viled an ingenious instrument for examining the respiration of 
the native Indian girls in the Lincoln Institution. The girls had 
not yet been subjected to the restrictions of civilized dress. He 
says: 

"In all, I examined the movements of eighty-two chests, and 
in each case took an abdominal and a costal tracing. The girls 
were partly pure and partly mixed with white blood, and tlieir 
ages ranged from between ten and twenty years. Thus there 
were thirty-three full-blooded Indians, five one fourth, thirty-five 
one half, and two three fourths white. Seventy-five showed a 
decided abdominal type of breathing, three a costal type, and 
three in which both were about even. Tlwse who showed t?}e 
costal type, or a. divergence from the abdominal ti/pe, canw 
from the more civilized tribes, like tlio IMohawks and Olii^^po- 
was, and were either o?ie half or three fourths trhite ; while in 
no single instance did a full-blooded Indian girl possess this 
type of breathing. 

"From these observations it obviously follows that, so far 



300 RESPIEATIOX. 

as the Indian is concerned, the abdominal is tlie orignal type 
of respiration in both male and female, and that the costal type 
in the civilized female is developed through the constricting in- 
fluence of dress around the abdomen. While these tracings 
were taken an incident occurred which demonstrated that ab- 
dominal constriction could modify the movements of the thorax 
during respiration. At my first visit to the institution I obtained 
an exceptional costal type of respiration from a full-blooded 
Indian girl. At my next ^isit I concluded to repeat this obser- 
vation, and found that, contrary to my instructions concerning 
loose clothing, etc., this girl at my first ^^sit had worn three 
tight belts around her abdomen. After these were removed she 
gave the abdominal type of breathing, which is characteristic 
of nearly all the Indian girls." 

To us these facts are invaluable. It shows the faulty con- 
struction of modern female dress, which restricts the motion of 
abdominal respiration. It explains why, as experience has taught 
us, it is necessary to restore this abdominal rhythm, by proper 
movements, in order permanently to cure the affections of the 
lower portion of the trunk. It demonstrates conclusively that 
woman's dress, to be injurious, needs only to interfere vrith the 
proper motion of respiration, even though it exercises not the 
slightest compression. — Health Becord. 

The Germ Theory of Disease (p. 86). — ^Vl-lat ar& Disease 
Germs ? — Microscopical investigation has revealed throughout 
jSTature, in the air, in water — especially when it contains organic 
matter, and even within the bodies of persons and animals, 
mATiads of infinitesimal active organisms which live, multiply, 
and die in endless succession. These have been named Tjacteria 
(bacteritim, a rod, so called from the general rod-shape first ob- 
served), and also microbes (microbe, a small living object). 
Some investigators apply the latter term as a general one, lim- 
iting the former to such microbes as are believed to be special 
disease-producers. The ' ' Germ Theory " teaches that the seeds 
or spores of bacteria, floating in the air we breathe or in the 
water we drink, are taken into our bodies where, under condi- 
tions favorable to their growth, they develop, multiply, and, 
each after its own species, produce distinctive evil results. — 
Thus, according to this theory, there are special varieties of 



THE GERM THEORY OF DISEASE. BOl 

microbes that cause, respectively, diphtheria, erysipelas, scarla- 
tina, cholera, etc. — One of the most common microbes in nature 
is the bacterium of putrefaction, found every-where in decaying 
organic matter.* 

By the species of microbes called ferments all fermented 
liquors are artificially produced (see p. 132) ; these also cause the 
"rising" of bread. — These wonderful little existences are thus 
made to perform an important part in the economy of Nature. 
"Nourished at the expense of putrefying organic matter, they 
reduce its complex constituents into soluble mineral substances, 
which they return to the soil to serve afresh for the nourish- 
ment of similar plants. Thus they clear the surface of the earth 
from dead bodies and foecal matter, and from all the useless 
substances which are the refuse of life ; and thus they unite 
animals and plants in an endless chain." — Trouessart. 

How Disease Germs (ttoz^.— Experiments having shown that 
no life is known to spring from inanimate matter, we may rea- 
sonably suppose that just as wheat does not grow except from 
seed, so no disease occurs without some disease germ to produce 
it. Then, again, we may logically assume that each disease is 
due to the development of a particular kind of germ. If we 
plant small-pox germs, we do not reap a crop of scarlatina or 
measles ; but, just as wheat springs from wheat, each disease 
has its own distinctive germs. Each comes from a parent stock, 
and has existed somewhere previously. . . . Under ordinary 
circumstances, these germs, though nearly always present, are 
comparatively few in number, and in an extremely dry and in- 
durated state. Hence, they may frequently enter our bodies with- 
out meeting with the conditions essential to their growth ; for 

* This is the microbe found in impure water. If we take half a glass 
of spring or river water, and leave it uncovered for a few days, we shall 
observe \ipon it a thin coating of what appears to be a fine diist. Place, now, 
a drop of this dusty water undei- a cover-glass, and examine it ui\der a mi- 
croscope with a magnifying power of about five hundred dianiotei-s. The 
revelation is astonishing. " The whole field of the microscope is in motion : 
hundreds of bacteria, resembling minute transparent worms, arc swintming 
iu every directiim with ai\ uudulatory motion like that of an eel or suako. 
Some are detached, otlicrs united in paii's, others in chains or chaplots or 
cylindrical rods. . . . All these forms represent the different transfor- 
mations of Bacterhnn fenno, ov the microbe of putrefaction. Those which are 
dead appear as small, rigid, and inmiovable rods."— Tkouks^sakt. 



302 KESPIRATION. 

experiments have shown that it is very difficult to moisten them, 
and till they are moistened, they do not begin to develop. In a 
healthy system they remain inactive. But any thing tending to 
weaken or impair the bodily organs, furnishes favorable condi- 
tions, and thus epidemics almost always originate and are most 
fatal in those quarters of our great cities where dirt, squalor, 
and foul air render sound health almost an impossibility. . , . 
Having once got a beginning, epidemics rapidly spread. The 
germs are then sent into the air in great numbers, and in a 
moist state ; and the probabilities of their entering, and of their 
establishing themselves even in healthy bodies, are vastly in- 
creased. . . . Chmate and the weather have also much influence 
on the vitality of these germs. Cold is a preventive against 
some diseases, heat against others. Tyndall found that sunhght 
greatly retarded and sometimes entirely prevented putrefaction ; 
while dirt is always favorable to the growth and development 
of germs. Sunshine and cleanliness are undoubtedly the best and 
cheapest preventives against disease. — ''Disease Germs" Cham- 
bers' Jowrnal. 

You know the exquisitely truthful figures employed in the 
IsTew Testament regarding leaven. A particle hid in three meas- 
ures of meal leavens it all. A little leaven leaveneth the whole 
lump. In a similar manner a particle of contagium spreads 
through the human body, and maybe so multiplied as to strike, 
down whole populations. Consider the effect produced upon the 
system by a microscopic quantity of the virus of small-pox. 
That virus is to all intents and purposes a seed. It is sown as 
leaven is sown, it grows and multiplies as leaven grows and 
multiplies, and it always reproduces itself. . . . Contagia are 
living things, which demand certain elements of life, just as 
inexorably as trees, or wheat, or barley ; and it is not difficult 
to see that a crop of a given parasite may so far use up a con- 
stituent existing in small quantities in the body, but essential in 
the growth of the parasite, as to render the body unfit for the 
production of a second crop. The soil is exhausted ; and until 
the lost constituent is restored, the body is protected from any 
further attack from the same disorder. To exhaust a soil, how- 
ever, a parasite less vigorous and destructive than the really 
virulent one may suffice ; and if, after having, by naeans of a 



THE GEEM THEORY OF DISEASE. 303 

feebler organism, exhausted the soil without fatal result, the 
most highly virulent parasite be introduced into the system, it 
will prove powerless. This, in the language of the germ theory, 
is the whole secret of vaccination. — Tyndall. 

Disease Geriins Contained in AtmosiDherie Dust. — Take the 
extracted juice of beef or mutton, so prepared as to be perfectly 
transparent, and entirely free from the living germs of bacteria. 
Into the clear liquid let fall the tiniest drop of an infusion 
charged with the bacteria of putrefaction. Twenty-four hours 
subsequently, the clear extract will be found muddy throughout, 
the turbidity being due to swarms of bacteria generated by the 
drop with which the infusion was inoculated. At the same time 
the infusion will have passed from a state of sweetness to a state 
of putridity. Let a drop similar to that which has produced 
this effect fall into an open wound : the juices of the living- 
body nourish the bacteria as the beef or mutton juice nourished 
them, and you have putrefaction produced within the system. 
The air, as I have said, is laden with floating matter which, 
when it falls upon the wound, acts substantially like the drop. 
. . . A few years ago I was bathing in an Alpine stream, fud, 
returning to my clothes from the cascade which had been my 
shower-bath, I slipped upon a block of granite, the sharp crys- 
tals of which stamped themselves into my naked shin. The 
wound was an awkward one, but, being in vigorous health at 
the time, I hoped for a speedy recovery. Dipping a clean pocket- 
handkerchief into the stream, I wrapped it round the wound, 
limped home, and remained for four or five daj's quietly in bed. 
There was no pain, and at the end of this time I thought my- 
self quite fit to quit my room. The wound, when uncovered, 
was found perfectly clean, uninfiamed, and entirely free from 
pus. Placing over it a bit of gold-beater's-skin, T walked about 
all day. Toward evening, itching and heat were felt ; a large 
accumulation of pus followed, and I was forced to go to bed 
again. The water-bandage was restored, but it was powerless 
to check the action now set up ; arnica was applied, but it made 
matters worse. The infiammation increased alarmingly, until 
finally I was ignobly carried on men's shouldere down the 
mountain, and transported to Geneva, where, thanks to the 
kindness of friends, I was immediately placed in the best 



304 RESPIRATION, 

medical hands. On the morning after my ariival in G-eneva, 
Dr. Gautier discovered an abscess in my instep, at a distance 
of five inches from the wound. The two were connected by a 
channel, or sinus, as it is technically called, through which he 
was able to empty the abscess without the application of the 
lance. 

By what agency was that channel formed — what was it that 
thus tore asunder the sound tissue of my instep, and kept me 
for six weeks a prisoner in bed? In the very room where the 
water-dressing had been removed from my wound and the gold- 
beater's-skin applied to it, I opened this year a number of 
tubes, containing perfectly clear and sweet infusions of fish, 
flesh, and vegetable. These hermetically-sealed infusions had 
been exposed for weeks, both to the sun of the Alps and to the 
warmth of a kitchen, without showing the slightest turbidity or 
signs of life. But two days after they were opened, the greater 
number of them swarmed with the bacteria of putrefaction, the 
germs of which had been contracted from the dust-laden air of 
the room. And, had the pus from my abscess been examined, 
my memory of its appearance leads me to infer that it would 
have been found equally swarming with these bacteria — that it 
was their germs which got into my incautiously-opened wound, 
Thej^ were the subtile workers that burrowed down my shin, 
dug the abscess in my instep, and produced effects which might 
well have proved fatal to me, — Tyxdall, 

Disease Germs Carried in Soiled Clothing (p, 89). — The 
conveyance of cholera germs by bodies of men moving along 
the lines of human communication, without necessarily affecting 
the individuals who transport them, is now easy to understand ; 
for it is well estabhshed that clothes or linen soiled by cholera 
patients may not only impart the germs with which they are 
contaminated to those who handle them when fresh, but that, 
after having been dried and packed, they may infect persons at 
any distance who incautiously unfold them. Thus, while the 
nurses of cholera patients may, with proper precautions, enjoy 
an absolute immunity from attack, the disease germs may be 
introduced into new localities without any ostensible indication 
of their presence. It is ob\aous that the only security against 
such introduction consists in the destruction or thorough disin- 



THE SANITARY HOME. 305 

fection of every scrap of clothing or linen which has been 
about the person of a cholera patient. — Dr. Carpenter. 

I have known scarlet fever to be carried by the clothing of 
a nurse into a healthy family, and comffiunicate the disease to 
every member of the family. I have known cholera to be 
communicated by the clothes of the affected person to the 
women engaged in washing the clothes. I have known small- 
pox conveyed by clothes that had been made in a room where 
the tailor had by his side sufferers from the terrible malady. 
I have seen the new cloth, out of which was to come the riding- 
habit for some innocent child to rejoice in as she first wore it, 
undergo the preliminary duty of forming part of the bed-cloth- 
ing of another child stricken down with fever. Lastly, I have 
known scarlet fever, small-pox, typhus, and cholera, communi- 
cated by clothing contaminated in the laundry. — Dr. Eichardson. 

The Sanitary Home (see p. 94).— 1. Tfie Site.— Fiv&t and 
foremost of all the things you are to consider, is the healthful- 
ness of a situation. The brightest house and cheeriest outlook 
in nature will be made somber by the constant presence of a 
doctor, and the wandering around of an unseen, but ever felt, 
specter in the shape of miasm. . . . Malaria— mains, bad ; 
aria, air — means, in its common definition, simply bad air. 
Miasma is its synonym, — infecting effluvia floating in the air. 
Because, as everybody knows, certain places have always chills 
and fever associated with them, and other places have not, it 
follows that between such places there is some fact of dift'er- 
ence ; this fact is the presence of miasin, a cause of disease, 
having a signification associative with the locality. . . . 

Vegetation, heat, and moisture : these are the three active 
agents in the production of miasma, to whicli a fourth is to be 
added, in the influence of non-drainage, either by the way of 
the atmosphere or running water. The strongest example of a 
malarious locality one might make would bc^ in suggesting a 
marshy valley in a tropical climate, so overinin with lixoil wc\tor 
as to destroy a prolific vegetation, yet not covering ii enough 
to protect the garbage from the putrefying intUieuces ot" the 
sun ; this valley, in turn, so environed witl\ hills as to shut oiV 
a circulation of air. . , . Ground newly broken is not unapt to 



306 RESPIRATION. 

long-buried vegetable matter to the influences of moisture and 
heat. ... It may readily be conceived that malarious situa- 
tions exist where the miasm is not sufficient in quantity to pro- 
duce the effects of intermittent or bilious fever, yet where there 
is quite enough of it to keep a man feeling good for nothing, — 
he is not sick, but he is never well. I know of one country 
seat of this kind, where forty thousand dollars would not pay 
for the improvements put upon it, and where, I am free to de- 
clare, I would not think of living, even if, as an inducement, a 
free gift were made to me of the place. . . . Besides miasm, 
there are other atmospheric associations to be considered. I re- 
call this moment a distillery, where attempt was made to get 
clear of the mash by throwing it into a running stream, with 
the anticipation of its being carried to the river, but where, on 
the contrary, it became a stagnant putrescent mass, impregnat- 
ing the air for miles with its unendurable odor, and inducing 
such a typhoid tendency that half the country-side were down 
with fever. . . . There are, again, situations where the filth 
and debris of sewage exercise a poisoning influence on the sur- 
rounding atmosphere. . This has its principal application to the 
neighborhood of cities and towns drained into adjoining streams. 
London and the Thames furnish a notable illustration. A cove, 
attractive as it is, may prove a receptacle for the accumulation 
of dead fish and other offal, which shall make untenable the 
charming cottage upon the bank. A deep, cove has rarely 
healthy surroundings, the circulation of its water being too 
sluggish to insure freshness and vitality. Water, like blood, to 
be healthy, must be in a state of continuous movement. 

A non-observant man, purchasing a beautiful stream, ma}', 
be completely disappointed by finding that the opacity of its 
water depends upon a factory, of which he had never so much 
as heard ; he may not let his children bathe in it, for he may 
well fear for them the fate of the fish he so plentifully finds 
lying dead upon the shore. A poisoned rural stream is as sad 
a sight as it has grown to be a common one. Always, before 
buying water, know 'what there is up stream, or what there is 
likely to be. 

Never buy a country house without seeing to it that the 
foundation stands upon a higher level than some channel 



THE SANITARY HOME. 307 

which may drain it, and this, by the way, is not to consider 
alone the dry summer day on which you go first to visit the 
place ; you are to think of the winter and spring. Look to it 
that no excess of water shall be able to drown you out ; some 
places, which in dry weather are glorious, are, in winter and 
spring, ankle-deep in slush and mire, and every thing about 
them is as wet as a soaked board. Open the front door of such 
a house, and a chill strikes you instantly. A fire must be kept 
the year round, or otherwise you live in the moisture of a 
vault. Places there are of this class where the question of the 
water from the kitchen-pump comes to absorb the attention of 
the whole household. 

No shade is an abomination. A bilious fever fattens in the 
sun as does miasm in a marshy valley. Too much shade, on 
the contrary, and too near the house, is equally of ill import ; 
it keeps things damp, and dampness is a breeder of pestilence. 
An atmosphere confined about a house by too dense foliage is, 
like the air of an unventilated room, not fit for practical pur- 
poses. The sporadic poisons have an intimate relationship with 
dampness ; miasm lives in it as does a snail in his shell. Be- 
sides this, it shuts out the cool breath of the summer nights, 
and makes restless swelterers where even a blanket might be 
enjoyed. — Dr. John Darby, Odd Hours of a Physician. 

2. The House. — So construct the dwelling from foundation 
to roof that no dampness can result. Give to the cellar dry 
walls, a cement floor, and windows enough to insure constant 
currents of air. Insist upon such a system of immediate and 
perfect sewerage as shall render contamination impossible. If 
"modern improvements" are afforded, see that the plumbing 
embraces the latest and most scientific sanitary inventions. Do 
not economize on this point ; health, perhaps life, depends upon 
the perfect working of the various traps. Having employed 
the most skilled and intelligent plumbers, overlook their work 
so that you may fully understand the principle applied. 

Provide for ample ventilation m every apartment, above 
and below. I-iet the sleeping-rooms be abo\-e-stairs, and fur- 
nished with appliances for moderate warmth in winter. Treat 
yourself and your family to as many fire-places as possible. In- 
dulge in a spacious piazza, so placed that it will not cut otV the 



308 EESPIEATION. 

light from the faiiiily sitting-room, and, if you can, include a 
balcony or two, large enough to hold a chair and a table, or a 
work-basket. Remember that a house is for convenience and 
protection only when you can not he in the open air. 

3. The Kitchen and the Dust-heap. — Bemoval of Household 
Befuse. — It has to be assumed, especially where servants are 
not carefully overlooked, that the dust-heap of most houses will 
contain more or less decomposing organic matter, such as bits 
of meat, scales and refuse of fish, tea and coffee grounds, and 
the peelings of vegetables, which, though quite out of place in 
the ash-heap, are apt surreptitiously to be thrown upon it. 
Such matter soon becomes offensive and even dangerous, and a 
few days' retention of it in warm weather constitutes a legal 
nuisance. Household refuse should be carted away as often as 
once in two days; in extreme hot weather, daily. Where it is 
inexpedient to remove it frequently, it should be kept covered 
to the depth of two or three inches with a layer of powdered 
charcoal, or freshly-burnt lime, or, at least, of clear dry earth. 
All soil which has become foul by the soakage of decaying or 
vegetable matter should be similarlj^ treated. The refuse heap 
should be protected from rain, and liquids should never be 
thrown upon it. Where obnoxious matter has been allowed to 
accumulate, its disturbance for removal should be conducted 
with special precaution, both on account of its temporary offen- 
siveness of odor and the more serious results which may follow. 
It can not be too distinctly understood that cleanliness, ventila- 
tion, and dryness are the best of all deodorizers. One of the 
first of household regulations should be to see that no unsani- 
tary rubbish remains in or about the dwelling. Keep the dust- 
heap itself at- the farthest practicable remove from the house. 
Sow grass-seed plentifully upon the back premises, and induce 
tidiness in the domestics by having the kitchen door open upon 
a well-kept lawn. 

Burning of Garbage. — The easiest, quickest, and most sani- 
tary method of disposing of household garbage is to burn it- 
This plan has been officially recommended by the Boards of 
Health in various cities. Man}^ housekeepers have adopted it, 
and find it so practicable that in New York City there has be- 
come a marked decrease in the amount of household refuse 



THE SANITARY HOME. 309 

collected by the scavengers. If, after every meal, the draughts of 
the range be opened, and all waste matter be deposited within, 
a few moments, or at most, a half hour, will effectually dispose 
of it, and prevent all the dangers that arise from its retention 
and accumulation. In the country, where there is plenty of 
ground, nearly all rubbish can be destroyed in this way and by 
outside fires, with the additional advantage that the ashes which 
are obtained are valuable as a garden fertilizer. — E. B. S. 

4. The Seicers and Drains. — How to keep out Sewer Air. — 
The most perfectly flushed sewers that are made, under the 
latest and fullest sanitary light, must, owing to the constant 
entrance of greasy and other adhesive -material, contain more or 
less of particles that "stick," and also more or less of fungi and 
mold ; so that here, shut away from light and air, goes on 
the peculiar fermentation that fits it for the soil or habitat of 
the malarial germ. These germs, the soil once ready, take 
possession and multiply, whether that soil be a sewer or the 
blood of a person who sits calmly unconscious in a gorgeous 
chamber above, with a small continuation of the sewer extend- 
ing untrapped up to his wash-bowl. — Dr. Derby. 

Keep constant watch of your traps and drains. Cultivate 
the faculty of detecting sewer gas in the house. Always fear a. 
smell ; trace it to its source and provide a remedy. At the 
same time, bear in mind that it is not always the foul smell that 
is most dangerous. There is a close, sweet odor often present 
in bath-rooms, and about drains, that is deadly as the Upas 
tree. Bad air from neglected drains causes not only fevers, 
dysentery, and diphtheria, but asthma and other chronic disor- 
ders. Illuminating gas, escaping from pipes and prevented from 
exuding by frozen earth, has been known to pass sidowise for 
some distance into houses. Thus also thi^ air from ^'oss-piH^ls 
and porous or broken drains finds its way. when an examination 
of the household entrance to the drain fails to nnoal the cause 
of an existing effltivia. But, however bad the drain may be 
outside the house, there is littU^ to i'ciw \)voy\dod the gas can 
escape externally. Every main drain sluniUl have a ventilating 
pipe carried from it directly ontside tlu^ honso to the top of the 
highest chinm(\\ . The soil-t>ipe inside llu^ house should be carried 
up through the roof and be open at the top. 



310 RESPIRATION. 

Digging for drains or other purposes should not be allowed 
when the mercury stands above 60° ; but if, as in repairs of 
pipes, it becomes necessary to dig about the house in hot 
weather, let it be done in the middle of the day, and replace 
the turf as speedily as possible. If the soil be damp, or the 
district malarious, sprinkle quicklime upon the earth as fast as 
it is turned. 

How to Clear Waste-pipes. — The "sewer-gas," about which 
so much has been written, and which is so justly dreaded, is 
not, as many suppose, the exclusive product of the sewer. In- 
deed, the foul and dangerous gases are not only found in the 
sewers themselves, but in the unventilated waste-pipes, and 
those which are in process of being clogged by the foul matter 
passing through them. Any obstruction in the soil or waste- 
pipes is therefore doubly dangerous, because it may produce an 
inflow of foul gas into the pipe, even though the entrance to 
the sewer itself has been entirely cut off. 

In pipes leading from the house to the cess-pool, there is a 
constant accumulation of grease. This enters as a liquid, but 
hardens as the water cools, and is deposited on the bottom and 
sides of the pipes. As these accumulations increase, the water- 
way is gradually contracted, till the pipe is closed. 

When the pipe is entirely stopped, or allows the water to fall 
away by drops only, proceed thus : Empty the pipe down to the 
trap, as far as practicable, by "mopping up" with a cloth. If 
the water flows verj^ slowly, begin when the pipe has at last 
emptied itself. Fill the pipe up with potash, crowding it with 
a stick. Then allow hot water to trickle upon the potash, or 
pour the hot water upon it in a small stream, stopping as soon 
as the pipe appears to be filled. As the potash dissolves and 
disappears, add more water. At night a little heap of potash 
may be placed over the hole, and water enough poured on so 
that a supply of strong lye will flow into the pipe during the 
night. 

Pipes that have been stopped for months may be cleaned 
out by this method, though it may call for three or four pounds 
of potash. The crudest kind, however, appears to act as well as 
the best. If the pipe is partially obstructed, a lump of crude 
potash should be placed where water will drip slowly upon it, 



THE SANITARY HOME. 311 

and so reach the pipe. As water comes in contact with the 
potash, it becomes hot, thus aiding in dissolving the grease. 
Potash, in combination with grease, forms a "soft" or liquid 
soap, which easily flows away. It is also destructive to all 
animal and most mineral matters. 

Some of the most dangerous gases come from wash-basin 
pipes, being, perhaps, the result of the decay of the soap and 
the animal matter washed from the skin. 

When a pipe is once fairly cleaned out, the potash should be 
used from time to time, in order to dissolve the greasy deposits 
as they form, and carry them forward to the cess-pool or sewer. 
—Artisan. 

What Caine fro'm a Neightor's Cess-pool. — Keep watch not 
only of your own premises, but stand on guard against those of 
your neighbors. Dr. Carpenter cites a case wherein " four mem- 
bers of a certain household were attacked with typhoid fever, 
one of whom narrowly escaped with her life. The circumstances 
left no doubt in the mind of the attending physician that the 
malady originated in the opening of an old cess-pool belonging 
to a neighboring house, then in course of demolition. The house 
in which the outbreak took place is large and airj^ and stands 
by itself in a most salubrious situation. The most careful ex- 
amination failed to disclose any defect either in its drainage or 
its water-supply ; there was no typhoid in the neighborhood ; 
and the milk-supply was unexceptional. But the neighboring 
house being old; and having been occupied by a school, its re- 
moval had been determined on to make way for a house of 
higher class ; and as the offensive odor emanating fi'om the lui- 
covered cess-pool was at once perceived in the next garden, and 
the outbreak of typhoid followed at the usual interval, the case 
seems one which admits of no reasonable question." 

5. The Cellar.— A Typical Bad Cellar.— Tiid. the reader ever, 
when a child, see the cellar afloat at some old home in the 
country? You creep part way down the cellar-stairs with only 
the light of a single tallow-candle, and beholtl b>' its dim ghni- 
mer an expanse of dark water, boundless as the sea. (^u its 
surface, in dire confusion, float barrels and boxes, butter t irk ins 
and wash-tubs, boards, planks, hoops, and staves without num- 
ber, interspersed with apples, turnips, and cabbages, while lialf- 



312 RESPIRATION. 

drowned rats and mice, scrambling up the stairway for dear 
life, drive you affrighted back to the kitchen, . . . Now con- 
sider the case of one of these old farm-house cellars that has 
been in use fifty years or more. In it have been stored all the 
potatoes, turnips, cabbages, onions, and other vegetables for 
family food. The milk and cream, the pork and beef, and cider 
and vinegar, have all met with various accidents, and from 
time to time have had their juices, in various stages of decay, 
absorbed by the soil of the cellar-bottom. The cats have slept 
there to fight the rats and the mice, who have had their little 
homes behind the walls for half a century ; and the sink-spouts 
have for the same term poured into the soil close by, their fra- 
grant fluids. The water rushes upward and sideways into the 
cellar, forming, with the savory ingredients at which we have 
delicately hinted, a sort of broth, quite thin and watery at first, 
but growing thicker as the water slowly subsides and leaves its 
grosser parts pervading the surface of the earth, walls, and par- 
titions. All this time the air rushes in at the openings of the 
cellar, and presses constantly upward, often lifting the carpets 
from the floors, and is breathed day and night by all who dwell 
in the house. Does it require learned doctors or boards of 
health to inform any rational person that these conditions are 
unfavorable to health? — Mrs. Plunkett, Women, Plumbers, 
and Doctors. 

What Came from a Crack in a Cellar Wall. — A few years 
ago a Boston gentleman inherited a house, situated on one of 
the most desirable streets of the city. Resolving to make a 
healthy as well as a beautiful home, he spent a large sum, and 
gave personal supervision to all the details of an elaborate 
system of plumbing. He moved in. Imagine his grief and dis- 
appointment when member after member of his family suc- 
cumbed to diphtheria, and an infant and a grown daughter 
died. Though so deeply smitten, he did not lose his belief in 
the connection between cause and effect. He ordered a minute 
investigation of the premises by experts. A slight crack, so 
small as to have escaped ordinary observation, was found in the 
cellar wall. Investigation of the premises next door — the in- 
mates of which were also suffering from diphtheria — showed a 
choked-up drain, which ought to have connected with the sewer. 



THE SANITARY HOME. 313 

but did not. The filthy ooze from this was pouring out, just 
where its effluvium and its disease-germs could pass without 
any hindrance through the crack. 

Now that it is shown that gases pass through bricks and 
many kinds of stone, it is easy to see that the sanitary welfare 
of one is the sanitary welfare of all.— Mks. Plunkett. 

6. The Bedroom. — The Bed a Night Garment. — There is still 
one of our garments to be considered, which generally is not 
regarded as such. I mean the bed — that piece of clothing in 
which we spend such a great part of our time. 

The bed is not only a place of rest ; it is especially our 
sleeping-garment, and has often to make up for privations en- 
dured during the day and the day's work, and to give us 
strength for to-morrow. Like our day-garments, the bed-cover- 
ing must be airy and warm at the same time. We warm the 
bed by our body, just as we warm our clothes, and the bed 
warms the air which is continually flowing through it from 
below, upward. The regulating strata must be more powerful in 
their action than in our day-clothes, because during rest and sleep 
the metamorphosis of our tissues and the resulting heat become 
less ; and because in a horizontal position we lose more heat by 
an ascending current of air than in a vertical position, where 
the warm ascending current is in more complete and longer 
contact with our upright body. 

The warmth of the bed sustains the circulation in our sur- 
face to a certain degree for the benefit of our internal organs 
at a time when our production of heat is at its lowest ebb. 
Hence the importance of the bed for our heat and blood econ- 
omy. Several days without rest in a bed not only make us 
sensible of a deficiency in the recruiting of our strength, but 
very often produce quite noticeable perturbations in our bodily 
economy, from which the bed would have protected us. — Dk. 
Max Von Pettenkoffer. 

Bed Ventilation. — It often happens that the desire of the 
energetic housekeeper to have her work done at an early hour 
in the morning, causes her to leave one of the most important 
items of neatness undone. The most eftectual purifying of boil 
and bed-clothes can not take place, if the proper time is \\o\ al- 
lowed for the free circulation of pure air, to remove all human 



314 CIRCULATION. 

impurities wtdch have collected during the hours of slumber. 
At least two or three hours should be allowed for the complete 
removal of atoms of insensible perspiration which are absorbed 
by the bed. Every day the airing should be done ; and, occa- 
sionally, bedding constantly used should be carried into the open 
air, and left exposed to the sun and wind for half a day.— 
Home and Health. 

CIRCULATION. 

The Pulse (p. 116).— The pulse which is felt by the finger 
does not correspond precisely with the beat of the heart, but 
takes place a httle after it, and the interval is longer, the 
greater the distance of the artery from the heart. The beat of 
the artery on the inner side of the ankle, for example, is a 
little later than the beat of the artery in the temple. — Huxley. 

The pulse is increased by exertion, and thus is more rapid 
in a standing than in a sitting, and in a sitting than in a lying 
posture. It is quickened by meals, and while varying thus 
from time to time during the day, is on the whole quicker in 
the evening than in early morning. It is said to be quicker in 
summer than in winter. Even independently of muscular exer- 
tion, it seems to be quickened by great altitude. Its rate is 
also profoundly influenced by mental conditions.— Foster. 

Circulation of Blood in the Brain (p. 120).— Signor Mosso, 
who has been engaged on the subject for six years, has pub- 
lished some new observations on the different conditions of the 
circulation of the blood in the brain. He has had the privilege 
of observing three patients who had holes in their skulls, per- 
mitting the examination of the encephalic movements and cir- 
culation. No part of the body exhibits a pulsation so varied in 
its form as the brain. The pulsation may be described as tri- 
cuspid ; that is, it consists of a strong beat, preceded and fol- 
lowed by lesser beats. It gathers strength when the brain is at 
work, corresponding with the more rapid flow of blood to the 
organ. The increase in the volume of the brain does not de- 
pend upon any change in the respiratory rhythm ; for, if we 
take the pulse of the fore-arm simultaneously with that of the 
brain, we can not perceive that the cerebral labor exercises any 



CATARRHAL COLDS. 315 

influence upon the fore-arm, although the pulsation in the brain 
maj^ be considerably modified. The emotions have a similar 
effect upon the circulation of the brain to that of cerebral labor. 
Signer Mosso has also observed and registered graphically the 
variations of the cerebral pulse during sleep. Generally the 
pulses of the wris't and the brain vary oppositely. At the mo- 
ment of waking, the pulse of the wrist diminishes, while that 
of the brain increases. The cerebral pulsations diminish as sleep 
grows deeper, and at last become very weak. Outward excitations 
determine the same modifications during sleep as in the waking 
state, without waking the sleeper. A deep inspiration always 
produces a diminution in the volume of the brain, in conse- 
quence, probably, of the increased flow of blood into the veins 
of the thoracic cavity ; the increase of volume in the brain, 
when it takes place, is, on the contrary, due to a more abun- 
dant flow of arterial blood to the encephalus. — Popular Science 
Monthly, March, 1882. 

Catarrhal Colds (p. 130). — I maintain that it can be proved, 
with as absolute certainty as any physiological fact admits of 
being proved, that warm, vitiated in-door air is the cause, and 
cold out-door air the best cure, of catarrh. . , . Fresh cold air 
is a tonic that invigorates the respiratory organs when all other 
stimulants fail, and, combined with arm-exercise and certain 
dietetic alternatives, it is the best remedy for all disorders of 
the lungs and upper air-passages. ... A combination of the 
three specifics, — exercise, abstinence, and fresh air, — will cure 
the most obstinate cold. . . . Frost is such a powerful disin- 
fectant, that in very cold nights the lung-poisoning atmosphere 
of few houses can resist its purifying influence ; in spite of 
padded doors, in spite of "weather-strips" and double windows, 
it reduces the in-door temperature enough to paralyze the float- 
ing disease-germs. The penetrative force of a polar night-frost 
exercises that function with such resistless vigor tlint it defies 
the preventive measures of human skill; and all Arctic trav- 
elers agree that among the natives of Iceland, Greenland, and 
Labrador pulmonary diseases are actually unknown. Protracted 
cold weather thus prev(M-its epidemic catarrhs, but iluring the tii-st 
thaw Nature^ succumbs to art : smoldering stove tires add tlieir 
fumes to the eflluvia of the iU>rnHtor\-. tight-titting doors and 



316 CIRCULATION. 

windows exclude the means of salvation ; superstition triumphs ; 
the lung-poison operates, and the next morning a snuffling, 
coughing, and red-nosed family discuss the cause of their afflic- 
tion. ... It is a mistake to suppose that ' ' colds " can be 
propagated onlj^ by direct transmission or the breathing of re- 
cently vitiated air. Catarrh-germs, floating in the atmosphere 
of an ill-ventilated bedroom, may preserve their vitality for 
weeks after the house has been abandoned ; and the next renter 
of such a place should not move in till wide-open windows and 
doors and a thorough draught of several days have removed 
every trace of a "musty" smell. — Dr. Felix L. Oswald, Beme- 
dies of Nature, Popular Science Monthly, March, 188 4. 

Catching Cold. — The phrase "to catch cold," so often in 
the mouths of physicians and patients, is a curious solecism. It 
implies that the term "cold" denotes something positive — a sort 
of demon which does not catch, but is caught by the unfortunate 
victims. ... If most persons outside of the medical profession 
were to be asked what they consider as chiefly to be avoided in 
the management of sick people, the answer would probably be 
" catching cold." I suspect that this question would be answered 
in the same way by not a few physicians. Hence it is that 
sick-rooms are poorly ventilated, and patients are oppressed by 
a superabundance of garments and bed-clothes. The air which 
patients are made to breathe, having been already breathed and 
rebreathed, is loaded with pulmonary exhalations. Cutaneous 
emanations are allowed to remain in contact with the body, as 
well as to pervade the atmosphere. Patients not confined to 
the bed, especially those affected with pulmonary disease, are 
overloaded with clothing, which becomes saturated with 
perspiration, and is seldom changed, for fear of the dreaded 
" cold." . . . 

A reform is greatly needed in respect to "catching cold." 
Few diseases are referable to the agency of cold, and even the 
affection commonly called a cold is generally caused by other 
agencies, or, perhaps, by a special agent, which may prove to 
be a microbe. Let the axiom, A fever patient never catches cold, 
be reiterated until it becomes a household phrase. Let the re- 
storative influence of cool, fresh, pure atmosphere be inculcated. 
Let it be understood that in therapeutics, as in hygiene, the 



THE WATER WE DRINK. Bl7 

single word comfort embodies the principles which should regu- 
late coverings and clothing. — Austin Flint, M.D., in a Lecture 
printed in The New York Medical Journal. 

DIGESTION AND FOOD. 

The Water We Drink (p. 155).— Qualities of Pure Water. 
— "A good drinking water," says Dr. Simpson (in The Water 
We Drink), "should possess the following physical characters: 
it should be entirely free from color, taste, or odor ; it should, 
moreover, be cool, well aerated, soft, bright, and entirely free 
from all deposit. But it should be remembered that a water 
having all these characteristics may yet be more or less polluted 
by organic matter, owing to the proximity of drains and 
sewers. . . . Disease has frequently been traced to the use of 
perfectly bright and clear water, where there was no sediment, 
and where the animal organic matter was held in a state of 
solution." 

In the case of diseases, such as typhoid, which attack the 
stomach, disease germs are removed along with the excreta; 
and if, as is often the case, the drainage of an infected town 
flows into a river, and that river is used in some after-portion 
of its course as a water-supply, there is great danger of such 
diseases being communicated. For, however well the water may 
be purified and filtered, we have no guarantee that it will not 
contain some of these disease germs, which are so small that 
they pass through the finest filters. It is in this way that almost 
all the great cholera and typhoid epidemics have spread. — 
Chambers' Journal. 

Well-water Often Dangerous. — A densely crowded xx-)pnlation 
soon impregnates the soil to some depth with filth, which drains 
into the water-course below, especially if such water is near the 
snrface. This surface water easily penetrates a loosely walled 
well. Every well, therefore, should not only be widel\ sepa- 
rated from barn-yards, cess-pools, pens, sinks, and similar places. 
but should be made water-tight with cement, so that ninl\ing_ 
can reach its intc^-ior except water that has been filtered through 
dense beds of unpolluted ground below. If these precautions 
are neglected, the best and deepest well may become continually 



81« DIGESTION A^D F00l>. 

contaminated by infiltration from the surrounding sm-face. This 
impure water, even when not used for family drinking, is some- 
times supplied to cows, or used for washing dairy pans, or em- 
ployed in diluting milk for the market, and there are many 
known cases in which disease has thus been disseminated. 
Thus, an epidemic of typhoid fever in Cambridge, Mass., was 
definitely traced to a dairy which supplied the \dctims with 
milk. Upon investigation it was found that a short time before 
there had been a typhoid patient in the farm-house, and that 
the well from which water was taken to wash the milk-pans 
had become contaminated with the specific poison brought into 
it from the surrounding drainage. 

-All suspected water should be thoroughly boiled before using 
it to drink. Some physicians insist that the boiling should con- 
tinue for one or two hours in order entirely to destroy the bac- 
terial germs. The heaviness and insipidity incident to boiled 
water may be somewhat relieved by afterward filtering it. Fil- 
tering, of itself, however, will do little toward ridding the water 
of microbes, which are much too minute to be arrested by the or- 
dinary apparatus. — Wlien journejang, where one must often take 
a hasty meal at a railway station, drink hot water in preference 
to cold. A convenient portable filter may be arranged with a 
bottle of powdered charcoal, and a piece of filtering paper. A 
traveler by briskly stirring a table-spoonful of the charcoal into 
a pint of water, allowing it to stand five or ten minutes, and 
then filtering it through the paper, maj" venture to relieve his 
thirst in almost anj^ part of the country. 

Water an Absorbent of Foul Gases. — If a pitcher of water 
be left uncovered in an occupied apartment for only a few 
hours, it will become foul from the absorption of the respired 
and perspired gases in the room. The colder the water, the 
greater the capacity to contain these gases. Water kept in a 
room over night is therefore unfit for drinking, and should not 
be used even to brush the teeth or to gargle in the throat. 

Impure Ice, a Breeder of Disease. — "We generally take the 
purity of our ice for granted, and, like the alligator in the 
bayou, close our mouths and swallow it. In the country, I have 
seen during the ice-harvesting season, wagon after wagon pass- 
ing me on the road, laden with ice that had been collected from 



THE GLANDULAE COAT. 319 

canals, rivers, and streams receiving sewerage, and from ponds 
that are in the summer-time reeking with slime, and often of- 
fensive from the quantity of decomposed vegetable and animal 
matter brought in by the washing from the meadow. These 
streams would be shunned as a source of water supply. 

Should you interview a native regarding the slimy mud-pud- 
dle before you, called Mr. So-and-so's private "ice-pond," he 
would say that ' ' in winter it is much better, and when frozen, 
you know, it makes fine ice," presenting that popular though 
ignorant belief that while in the act of crystallizing, water rids 
itself of all its injurious qualities, however offensive it may be 
in its liquid state. Unfortunately, there is enough truth in the 
current idea of the elimination of noxious and foreign matter 
during the process of freezing to give color to the popular 
belief, but not enough to make it a safe reliance ; therefore all 
means should be used to enlighten the public regarding this 
subject. Experiment has shown that freezing produces little 
change or effect in overcoming the poisonous influences, and ice 
has often served as a vehicle to convey the germs of typhoid 
and other low forms of fever. Pure ice can be procured only 
from water free from impurities, and ice for domestic or sur- 
gical purposes should never be collected from ponds or streams 
which contain animal or vegetable refuse, or stagnant and 
muddy material. — Journal of Recmi struct ives, Oct., 1887. 

The Glandular Coat of the Stomach, and How it Weeps 
(p. 162). — While the food is thus being continually moved about, 
it is at the same time subjected to the action of the chemical 
sac. This is, as we have said, a glandular sac. It is of some 
thickness, and is made of little glands bound up together with 
that stringy fibrous packing material which anatomists call con- 
nective tissue. 

If we were to imagine many gross of small Indin-rubbor 
vials all placed side by side, and bound togethtM- with hn>- 
or straw into a great mat, and the mat rolled u]i intc^ a sac. 
with all the mouths of the vials turncHi inward, wo should 
have a large and coarse, but tolerably fair image of the glandu- 
lar coat of the stomach. Each vial would then reprosont one 
of the glands of this coat, one of the gastric or peptic glands. 
as they are called. Each gland, howovor, is not always a 



820 



DIGESTION Ai^i) FOOi). 



simple tube, but is often branched at the bottom end, and all 
of them are lined, except just at their mouths, with large 
rounded bodies, which not unfrequently almost choke up their 
cavity. 

The rounded masses, or cells, as they are called, in the 
interior of each gland, form the really active part of the 

apparatus. Each cell is a little 
■^^^' '^- laboratory, which concocts out 

of the material brought to it 
or near it by the blood a cer- 
tain potent, biting fluid, and 
is hence called a peptic or di- 
gestive cell. Each cell is born 
at the bottom of the tube, 
and in process of time travels 
upward toward the mouth. 
When it reaches the mouth, 
it bursts, and pours into the 
stomach the fluid it has elab- 
orated, or perhaps may give it 
out without bursting, while it 
is still within its tube. 

In those cases in which it 
has been possible to look in 
upon the stomach while at 
work (as in the famous case 
of Alexis St. Martin), and 
where the orifices of the tiny 
glands (for though we have 
compared them to bottles, they 
are exceedingly small) appear 
like little dots, tears were seen to start at the mouths of the 
glands, gather into drops, and finally trickle down into the 
lowest part of the stomach. The stomach, as it were, weeps ; 
and indeed the weeping of tears is just such another effect 
of, glandular activity — only ordinary tears form a mild and, 
chemically speaking, impotent fluid ; while the fluid which the 
tears of the stomach weep— the gastric juice— is a sharp, piercing 
water of excessive chemical power. — Hinton. 




BRAK^CHED GASTRIC GLAND. 

a. The peiMc cells, b. The inert cells. 



POiSONOlJS MlLK, CHEESE, ETC. 821 

Poisonous Milk, Cheese, and Ice-cream (p. 169).— In late 
years there have been many cases of poisoning by ice-cream, 
cheese, and milk. The poisonous principle sometimes developed 
in these articles of food has been made a subject of special in- 
vestigation, and it has been found to be due to natural causes. 
Dr. Vaughan, of Michigan, after spending several months in 
experimenting upon samples of twelve different cheeses, which 
had caused three hundred cases of poisoning, finally succeeded 
in isolating certain poison-crystals, which he calls Tyrotoxicon. 
He says: "A few drops of an aqueous solution of these crystals 
placed upon the tongue produces all the symptoms observed in 
those who had been made sick by eating of the cheese. This 
was tried repeatedly upon myself, and upon some of my students 
who kindly offered themselves for experimentation." Dr.Yaughan 
afterward procured the poison-crystals from milk which had 
stood some months in a closed bottle, and also from a sample 
of ice-cream by which eighteen persons had been made ill. It 
was learned in the latter case that the custard, of which the 
ice-cream was made, had been allowed to stand in a foul atmos- 
phere for two hours before it was frozen. By placing small bits 
of this poisonous cream in good milk, and allowing it to stand 
twenty-four hours, the whole became vitiated. This proved that 
the poison is due to the growth of some ferment. In the au- 
tumn of 1886, many persons in different hotels at Long Branch 
were poisoned by milk obtained froin a certain milkman. In 
this case it was found that the cows were milked at noon, the 
warm milk being immediately placed in cans and carted eight 
miles during the warmest part of the day, in a very hot month. 
In June, 1887, nineteen persons in New York ciij were similarly 
poisoned by milk which also came from one dairj'. Many of 
these persons had narrow escapes from death. These, and many 
other like instances, teach us the importance of tlK^ greatt^st 
care in every detail of milk-handling. A littU^ (\vwk\ milk 
formed along the seam of a tin pail, (m- any similnr lodging- 
place, may be the starting-point of poison generation. A month 
after his first experiments with the ice-cream mentioned above. 
Dr. Vaughan put small pieces of the dried custanl in pans of 
milk, and afterward made custai'il Troni this milk. This \ ieKU\l 
tyrotoxicon as before, showing the tenacious viialitv o( the 



822 DIGESTIOl^ AND FOOI). 

poison, and also explaining the fact that the precise cause of 
poisoning is in many cases so difficult to trace. 

Fish as Food (p. 169).— It is not desirable that fish should 
be the sole kind of nitrogenous food eaten by any nation ; and 
even if milk and eggs be added thereto, the vigor of such a 
people will not be equal to that of flesh-eating nations. At the 
same time, the value of fish as a part of a dietary is indicated 
by the larger proportion of phosphorus which it contains, and 
which renders it especially fitted for the use of those who per- 
form much brain-work, or who are the victims of much anxiety 
and distress. — Edward Smith, in ''Foods." 

For the mentally exhausted, the worried, the "nervous," 
and the distressed in mind, fish is not simplj^ a food ; it acts as 
physic. The brain is nourished by it, the "nerves" — to use the 
term in its popular sense — are "quieted"; the mind grows 
stronger, the temper less irritable, and the whole being healthier 
and happier when fish is substituted for butcher's meat. ... I 
find persons who are greatly excited, even to the extent of 
seeking to do violence to themselves or to those around them, 
who can not sleep, and who are in an agony of irritability, be- 
come composed and contented when fed almost exclusively on 
fish. In such cases I have withdrawn butter, milk, eggs, and 
all the varieties of warm-blooded animal food ; and, carefully 
noting the weight and strength, I find no diminution of either, 
while fish is supplied in such quantities as fully to satisfy the 
appetite. — J. Mortimer G-ranville, M.D., "Fish as Food and 
Physic.'' 

Coffee and Tea (p. 170). — Besides the alkaloid Caffeine 
which coffee contains, it also develops, in roasting, a volatile oil 
called Caffeone, to which is due its characteristic aroma. The 
main effects of coffee are due to both the caffeine and the 
caffeone, which are " antagonistic, though not contemporaneous, 
in action. The volatile oil reduces arterial tension, allows a 
brisker flow of blood, and so increases the rapidity of the heart's 
action. It also acts upon the brain, and intellectual faculties in 
general ; keeps one awake, and his mind clear. Caffeine, on 
the other hand, like digitalis, produces a high arterial tension, 
and slows the heart-beat. It exerts its chief effect upon the 
spinal cord, to which, like strychnia, it is an excitant. The 



COFFEE AND TEA. 328 

shaking hand of the inveterate coffee-drinker is caused by caf- 
feine. Thus a cup of coffee produces on the drinker a double 
effect, — of the oil and the alkaloid ; the former sooner and 
transient, the latter later and lasting. . . . Coffee is not in 
itself nutritious to any marked degree; but it saves food, and 
also maintains life, by its exhilarating effect upon the nervous 
system. It is an excellent antidote to opium, producing the 
wakefulness that antagonizes the narcotic sleep of the drug ; is 
now and then curative of sick headache, and is one of the 
standard remedies for certain forms of nausea. 

To the chemist, Tea is much the same thing as coffee. It 
contains considerably more tannin, a volatile oil, and an alka- 
loid (theine) indistinguishable from caffeine. That the injurious 
effects of overdoses are due as much to the volatile oil as to the 
alkaloid, is shown by the fact that tea-packers are made ill by 
long breathing of air filled with it, and that tea-tasters in 
China, who avoid swallowing the infusion, can endure their 
trade but a few years, and leave the country with shattered 
nerves. 

Probably every one numbers among his friends women who 
are actual slaves of the tea-habit, and who would find tea as 
hard to forsake as men find tobacco. It is not unlikely that 
the functional cardiac disorder, often spoken of as the ''tobacco 
heart," due to nervous derangement, and accompanied by palpi- 
tation and pain in the cardiac region, is more often due to tea 
than tobacco. In fact, the disorders induced by excessive tea- 
drinking have been grasped as a special disease, to which has 
been given the name of Theism. This includes a train of 
symptoms, usually progressive, loss of appetite, pain after 
meals, headache, constipation, palpitation, cardiac distress, hys- 
terical manifestations, dizziness, and paresis. — Dk. ^Mauritk r>. 
Clarke, Popular Science Neivs. 

Tea-drinkers, as a rule, express doubts as regards \\\o cor- 
rectness of alleged poisonous properties of tea. Numerous in- 
stances of individuals of this class have boon noiiooil who wore 
themselves suffering from tea-poisoning. Their nerves were in 
a deplorably abnormal condition, the heart and brain were 
functionally disturbed, and tho sloop U^ss in quantity and less 
refreshing than it should bo. . . . One's opinion of tlu^ physical 



324 DIGESTION ANi) I'OOD. 

disturbances which may be caused by rum, tobacco, or tea, are 
not worth much, when the opinion comes from a victim of the 
excessive use of these agents. 

The tannin found in tea does not differ from that found in 
oak and other barks wliich the tanners use to convert the raw 
hides of animals into leather. It is a powerful astringent, which 
accounts for some of the peculiar physical evils to which con- 
firmed tea-drinkers are subject, 

Tiieine does not differ essentially from Cocaine (see p. 223). 
They both produce exaltation of the nervous system and in- 
creased powers of physical endurance. The brain is largely 
influenced in its functions, and long periods of wakefulness are 
induced. Continued use of strong infusions of either coca or 
tea result in great disturbance of nervous centers and functional 
offices, and either will produce fatal results by persistent use of 
inordinate quantities. 

A cup of tea as served at tea-tables contains usually only a 
trace of the alkaloidal principle, but infinitesimal quantities are 
capable of exerting baneful effects upon some tea-drinkers. , . . 
Poisons act in a variety of ways, some slowly, and without 
producing pain ; others act violently, and with speedy, fatal 
results. Inasmuch as we do not observe a very large number 
of clearly proved cases of acute poisoning by tea, we must con- 
clude that it is characteristically a slow poison, and also that its 
influence is unlike in different individuals. . . . Four or six 
cups of tea, however, taken during each twenty-four hours, will 
in time produce tea-poisoning, and greater or less evil effects. 

Tea is well enough, when its use is kept under absolute, in- 
telligent control ; but if it becomes master in any case, then it 
must be promptly abandoned, for danger attends the intemper- 
ate tea-drinker every hour of his life. Those advanced in life 
crave its stimulating effects, and it is well for them to use it in 
moderation ; but the young should abstain from it entirely. — 
Abridged from "Tea Poisoning,'' hy Du. Nichols, in Popular 
Science News, December, 1881. 

Causes and Effects of Indigestion (p. 172).— "When a light 
breakfast is eaten, a solid meal is requisite in the middle of 
the day. If the digestive organs are left too long unemployed, 
they secrete an excess of mucus, which greatly interferes with 



HOW FOOD DEVELOPS ENERGY. 325 

their normal functions. One meal has. a direct influence on the 
next ; and a poor breakfast leaves the stomach over-active for 
dinner. This is the secret of much excess in eating. The point 
to bear in mind is that not to eat a sufficiency at one meal 
makes you too hungry for the next ; and that when you are 
too hungry, you are apt to overload the stomach, and to give 
the gastric juices more to do than they have the power to per- 
form. 

To eat too often, and to eat irregularly, are other sources of 
indigestion. People who dine at uncertain hours, and eat one 
meal too quickly on the last, must expect the stomach to retal- 
iate in the long run. A very fruitful cause of dyspepsia is im- 
perfect mastication. We remember one old gentleman who used 
always to warn young people on this point by saying : ' ' Ke- 
member you have no teeth in your stomach." Nervous people 
nearly always eat fast, and as nearly always are the victims of 
nervous irritability, produced by dyspepsia. ... To sit much 
in a stooping posture interferes with the stomach's action. 
Well-marked dyspepsia has been traced to sitting immediately 
after dinner in a low arm-chair, so that the body was curved 
forward, and the stomach compressed 

The skin, core, and kernels of fruit should be avoided. Some 
people are not able to digest raw apples ; and dyspepsia has 
been sometimes greatly aggravated by eating pears. The latter 
fruit, in its ripest state, contains an abundance of gritty mate- 
rial, which, as it can not be separated in the mouth, on being 
swallowed irritates the mucous membrane 

Of food itself, bear in mind that hot meat is more digestible 
than cold ; the flesh of full-grown animals than that of yoimg 
ones ; that land birds are more digestible than water-fowl ; wild 
animals than domestic ones ; and that in game, newly-killed 
birds are easier of digestion than those which have been kept 
a long time. — Hints to Df/speptics, Cliamhers' Journal. 

How Food Develops Energy (p. 173). — It may appear 
strange that the small amount of food we eat should suffice to 
carry our large and bulky bodies tlu'cnigh all the varied move- 
ment of the day. But this difliculty disa]ipears at oiuw w Iumi 
we recollect liow large.an atnounl o\^ dormant iMiergy can be 
laid by in a very small piece oi xwaiWv. A lumji of coal no 



326 DIGESTION AND FOOD. 

bigger than one's fist, if judiciously employed, will suffice to 
keep a small toy-engine at work for a considerable time. Now, 
our food is matter containing large amounts of dormant energy, 
and our bodies are engines so constructed as to utilize all the 
energy to the best advantage. A single gramme of beef-fat if 
completely burned (that is, if every atom unites with oxygen), 
is capable of developing more than 9,000 heat-units ; and each 
heat-unit, if employed to perform mechanical work, is capable 
of lifting a weight of one gramme to a height of 424 meters ; 
or, what comes to the same thing, 424 grammes to a height of 
one meter. Accordingly, the energy contained in one gramme 
of beef, and the oxygen with which it unites, would be sufficient 
to raise the little bit of fat itself to a height of 3,816 kilo- 
meters, or almost as high as the distance from London to New 
York. — G-RANT Allen in " Why do we Eat our Dinner^.'' 

Danger of Too High Pressure. — A prudent fire-engineer, 
when his water-hose is old and weak, would not try to force as 
much water as he could into it. No ; to prevent a rupture he 
would work it at a low pressure. But men seldom think of 
carrying out the same simple mechanical principle when there 
is reason to believe that the vessels of the brain are getting 
weak and brittle. They eat and drink just as much as they feel 
inclined to, and sometimes a little more. "With a good digestion, 
nearly all they consume is converted into blood, to the yet fur- 
ther distention of vessels already over-distended. This high- 
pressure style of living produces high-pressure results. Its ef- 
fects were painfully illustrated by the death of Charles Dickens. 
The brain-work he performed was immense ; he lived gener- 
ously, taking his wine as he did his meat, with a liberal hand. 
He disregarded the signs of structural decay, forcing his reluc- 
tant brain to do what it had once done with spontaneous ease, 
until all at once, under a greater tension than ordinary, a weak 
vessel gave way, fiooding the brain with blood. — J. R. Black, 
M.D., in ''Apoplexy," Popular Science Monthly, April, 1875. 

Evils of Gluttony. — "Is it not strange," says Dr. Hunt, 
"how people, even the most considerate, will trifie with their 
stomachs ? Many a person seems to prefer taking medicine to 
avoiding it by a proper regulation of the appetite. You may 
stuff the stomach to the full, year after year, but as sure as 



EVILvS OF GLUTTONY. 327 

effects follow causes, so sure will you reap the accuraulatlng " 
penalty." A physician of extensive practice declares that he 
has never lived through a Christmas or Thanksgiving without 
frequently being consulted for ailments produced by excessive 
eating. He says: "It would seem as if multitudes thought they 
had a gluttonous license once a year, and that the most appro- 
priate method of expressing gratitude, was by stuffing the 
stomach." Excessive eating produces scrofula. Surfeiting among 
children results in mental stupidity and unmanageable temper. 
... I am acquainted with a family, in which about the aver- 
age amount of stuffing is indulged. To my expostulations, the 
mother has replied: "I may not be able to give my children 
as much education as some folks, and I may not be able to give 
them any property, but as long as we can get it, they shall 
have what they want to eat." I have spoken of their black 
teeth, bad breath, eruptions, and frequent sickness. "Yes," she 
has replied, "I know all that, but would you have me stop 
them before their appetites are half satisfied, and tell them, 
* there, that is all you can have ' ? No ; as long as I can get it, 
my children shall have enough to eat ; it never shall be said 
that I have starved them." This indulgence of children to the 
full extent of their undiscriminating appetites is extreme folly 
and genuine unkindness. Pampered with a variety of dishes, 
they eat enormously, which engenders a craving for another 
large meal, and so on — their youthful and elastic constitutions 
enabling them to bear the excess without immediate serious 
injury. Let them be confined to one or two plain dishes at a 
meal, and the quantity be determined for them ; it will then be 
found that a growing child does not need to be stuffed, and 
that his appetite will soon become reasonable ; and if the food 
be plain, and mostly or entirely vegetable, it will soon be ob- 
served that the child's teeth are whiter, its breath sweeter, its 
skin clearer, its tongue cleaner, its eyes brighter, its sleep 
quieter, its brains sharper, and its temper more amiable. There 
are few changes in the management of chiUlren which would 
prove so beneficial as that from the present mode of cramming 
with a multitude of rich foods, to a plain vegetable diet, eaten 
in regular and moderate quantitic^s.—Dio liKWis, In Weak Lung.s', 
and Hoiv to ITake them Strong. 



328 DIGESTION AND FOOD. 

Regular Physical Habits (p. 177).— Constipation lies at the 
root of a host of chronic ailments, which seem especially to 
beset American women. Impaired blood, nervous excitability, 
sick-headaches, mental depression, sleeplessness, and a long- 
train of untold sufferings may be directly traced to this physical 
sin. ^ye say sin, for in the large majority of instances tliis 
habit may be prevented ; or, if already formed, may, by proper 
attention, be cured. The principal causes w^hich lead to this 
deplorable state of the system are: 

1. Errors in Food. 
• 2. Errors in Exercise. 

3. Inattention to Xature's laws. 

Errors in Food have much to do with the evil in question. 
Our diet is, in general, too concentrated. We indulge ourselves 
with animal food two or three times a day, accompanying it 
with spices, condiments, greasy gravies, fine wheat bread, and 
a sparse amount of vegetables. TTe wind up our dinners wath 
rich and heavy pastry, and our luncheons or our suppers with 
sugared sweetmeats and that indigestible compound often offered 
under the name of cake. A few cups of strong tea intensify 
the error. Coffee has a less astringent effect, and therefore can 
not be so severely arraigned for this particular consequence. 
"When we think what delicious meals can be enjoyed from any 
of the cereals, well cooked, and taken with milk or cream, bread 
from unbolted flour, plenty of unsugared fruit, and pure rain or 
spring water, filtered and cooled or taken hot, with or without 
milk, we wonder that so many people consent day after day to 
use greasy pork, fried steaks, fried potatoes, hot biscuit, and in 
many cases poorly made coffee and tea. These are the people 
who make up the grand army of saUow-faced sufferers upon 
which the venders of patent pills and nauseous compounds thrive. 

A wise mother will not allow mere culinary convenience to 
take precedence of the requirements of health. She will study 
the peculiar physical needs of each one of her children, that 
she may provide for each the food best suited to his or her 
constitution. This is not a difficult matter. "Water, not only 
by itself, but in some of its combinations," says Dr. Oswald, 
"is an effective aperient; in water-melons, and whey, for in- 
stance, but still more in conjunction with a dish of peas, or 



REGULAR PHYSICAL HABITS. 329 

beans. jSTo constipation can long withstand the suasion of a 
dose of pea-soup, or baked beans, flavored with a modicum of 
brown butter, and glorified with a cup of cold spring water. 
Moreover, the aperient effect thus produced is not followed by 
an astringent reaction, as in the case of drugs, — the cure, once 
effected, is permanent." 

Errors in Exercise may lie in two directions, and over-exer- 
tion, viz., exercise carried to the point of nervous exhaustion, 
is as mischievous in its effect as is the other extreme. A too- 
long walk, for instance, may cause the very evil it is intended 
to cure. 

As a rule, however, sedentary habits are chargeable with the 
greater share of influence in this unhappy state of the system. 
Light gymnastics within doors, a brisk walk or horseback ride 
without, both taken in garments suspended from the shoulders, 
and devoid of all constriction so that the abdominal viscera can 
partake in the general movement of the body, are advisable. 
For invalids or those incapacitated for active exercise, friction or 
massage treatment daily, including a vigorous kneading of the 
abdomen, or a relaxation of the entire muscles of the body with 
especial thought directed to the desired result, are often of great 
service. 

Inattention to Physical Laws is perhaps the • prime culprit. 
Nature always inclines to regularity, and when we do not re- 
spect her dictates, we invite the retribution which, sooner or 
later, she invariably inflicts. The elimination of waste from the 
system is an imperative necessity, and whenever it is thwarted, 
evil must and will follow. Aside from the avoidance of positive 
discomforts, suffering, and disease, there is the not unimportant 
consideration of bodily elasticity and a fine complexion. Let 
every young woman who would possess and retain a fair, deli- 
cate complexion, remember that the most important factor in 
its formation and retention is a clean system. 

Proper diet, plenty of fruits, plenty of wholesome drink, 
enough exercise to send the blood pleasurnbly bcnuiding t]u-ougl\ 
the veins, followed up and enforced by prompt riH'(\i;-nition o\' 
the immutable laws of Health in this as \\i^ll as all otluM- or- 
ganic functions, will soon work a riM'oi-in tliat could ncH bo so 
successfully effected by all the drugs in ('hristeudom.— K. B, S. 



330 THE NEKVOUS SYSTEM 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

Effect of Violent Passions upon Health (p. 202).— The 
man who is given to outbursts of anger is sure to experience a 
rapid change of the physical organs, in case he does not die in 
a fit of rage. 

Deatli under such circumstances is of frequent occurrence. 
Sylla, Yalentinian, Nerva, "Wenceslas, and Isabeau of Bavaria, 
all died in consequence of an access of passion. The medical 
annals of our own time recount many instances of fatal effects 
following the violent brain-disturbance caused by anger. The 
symptoms usually are pulmonary and cerebral congestions. Still 
such fatal accidents as these are exceptional ; as a rule, the 
passions of hate and anger deteriorate the constitution by slow, 
but sure degrees. 

How, then, do we explain those morbid phenomena which 
have their origin in misplaced affection, in disappointed ambi- 
tion, in hatred, or in anger, and which culminate either in 
serious chronic maladies, or in death or suicide ? They all seem to 
start from an impairment of the cerebro-spinal centers. The 
continual excitation of these by ever-present emotions deter- 
mines a paralysis of the central nerve-substance, and thus 
affects its connections with the nerves extending out to the va- 
rious organs. These nerves next degenerate by degrees, and 
soon the great functions are compromised. The heart and the 
lungs cease to act with their normal rhythm, the circulation 
grows irregular and languishing. Appetite disappears, the 
amount of carbonic acid exhaled decreases, and the hair grows 
white, owing to the interruption of the pigmentary secretion. 
This general disturbance in nutrition and secretion is attended 
vsdth a fall of the body's temperature and ansemia. The flesh 
dries up and the organism becomes less and less capable of re- 
sisting morbific influences. At the same time, in consequence 
of the reaction of all these disturbances on the brain, the psychic 
faculties become dull or perverted, and the patient falls into a 
decline more or less complicated and aggravated by grave 
symptoms. Under these conditions he dies or makes away with 
himself. 



EFFECT OF VIOLENT PASSIONS, 331 

Two organs, the stomach and the Kver, are often affected in 
a pecuhar and characteristic way in the course of this patho- 
logical evolution. The modifications produced in the innervation, 
under the influence of cephalic excitement, cause a disturbance 
of the blood-circulation in the liver. This disturbance is of such 
a nature that the bile, now secreted in larger quantity, is re- 
sorbed into the blood instead of passing into the biliary vesicle. 
Then appears what we call jaundice. The skin becomes pale, 
then yellow, owing to the presence in the blood of the coloring 
matter of the bile. This change in the liver is usually developed 
slowly: sometimes, however, jaundice makes its appearance 
suddenly. Yilleneuve mentions the case of two youths who 
brought a discussion to an end by grasping their swords; sud- 
denly one of them turned yellow, and the other, alarmed at 
this transformation, dropped his weapon. The same author 
speaks of a priest who became jaundiced on seeing a mad dog 
jump at him. Whatever may be said of these cases, we must 
reckon painful affections of the soul among the efficient causes 
of chronic diseases of the liver. 

The digestion, says the author of a work published some 
years ago, is completely subjected to the infiuence of the moral 
and intellectual state. When the brain is wearied by the pas- 
sions, appetite and digestion are almost gone. . . . There is 
nowhere perfect health, save when the passions are well regu- 
lated, harmonized, and equipoised. Moral temperance is as in- 
dispensable to a calm and tranquil life as physiological temper- 
ance. . . . If it is your desire that your circulatory, respiratory, 
and digestive functions should be discharged properly, normally, 
if you want your appetite to be good, your sleep sound, your 
humor equable, avoid all emotions that are overstrong, all 
pleasures that are too intense, and meet the inevitable sorrows 
and the cruel agonies of life with a firm and resigned soul. 
Ever have some occupation to employ and divert your mind, 
and to make it proof against the temptations of want or of 
desire. Thus will you attain the term of life without overmuch 
disquiet and affliction. — Feknand Pai'ii,t,ok. hi the Bevue des 
Deux Afojides. 

Brain-work, Overwork, and Worry i^p. :-20b).—Ori'rsfinu(- 
iQlioti of the B\rvhi ill Cliihf/iood.— Most civilized communities 



332 THE NEEVOUS SYSTEM. 

have enacted laws against the employment of children in severe 
physical labor. This is "well enough, for the muscles of young 
persons are tender and weak, and not, therefore, adapted to 
the work to which cupidity or ignorance would otherwise 
subject them. But no such fostering care does the State take 
of the brains of the young. There are no laws to prevent the 
undeveloped nervous system being overtasked and brought to 
disease, or even absolute destruction. Every ph3"sician sees 
cases of the kind, and wonders how parents of intelligence can 
be so blind to the welfare of their offspring as to force, or even 
to allow, their brains to be worked to a degree that, in many 
cases, results in idiocy or death. Only a few months ago I saw 
for the first time a boy of five years of age, with a large head, 
a prominent forehead, and all the other signs of mental pre- 
cocity. He had read the first volume of Brj'ant's ' ' History of 
the United States," and was preparing to tackle the other vol- 
umes ! He read the magazines of the day with as much inter- 
est as did his father, and conversed with equal facility on the 
politics of the period. But a few weeks before I saw him he 
had begun to walk in his sleep, then chorea had made its ap- 
pearance, and on the day before he was brought to me he had 
had a well-marked epileptic paroxysm. Already his mind is 
weakened — perhaps permanently so. Such cases are not isolated 
ones. They are continually occurring. 

The period of early childhood — say up to seven or eight 
years of age — is that during which the brain and other parts of 
the nervous system are most actively developing, in order to fit 
them for the great work before them. It is safe to say that the 
only instruction given during this time should be that which 
consists in teaching children how to observe. The perceptive 
faculties alone should be made the subjects of systematic at- 
tempts at development. The child should be taught how to use 
his senses, and especially how to see, hear, and touch. In this 
manner, knowledge would be acquired in the way that is pre- 
eminently the natural way, and ample food would be furnished 
for the child's reflective powers. — Dr. "Wm. A. Hammond, Popii^ 
lar Science Monthly, November, I884. 

Reserve Force. — The part which "a stock of energy" plays 
in brain-work can scarcely be exaggerated. Reserves are of 



OVERWORK AND WORRY. S'iS 



high moment every-where in the animal economy, and the re- 
serve of mental force is in a practical sense more important 
than any other. . . . "Without this reserve, healthy brain- work 
is impossible. Pain, hunger, anxiety, and a sense of mind-weari- 
ness, are warning tokens of exhaustion. When the laborious 
worker, overcome with fatigue, "rouses" himself with alcohol, 
coffee, tea, or any other agent which may chance to suit him, 
he does not add a unit of force to his stock of energy ; he simply 
narcotizes the sense of weariness, and, the guard being drugged, 
he appropriates the reserve. . . . Meanwhile, the effort to work 
becomes daily more laborious, the task of fixing the attention 
grows increasingly difficult, thoughts wander, memory fails, the 
reasoning power is enfeebled ; physical nerve or brain disturb- 
ance may supervene, and the crash will then come suddenly, 
unexpected by on-lookers, perhaps unperceived by the sufferer 
himself. 

Overwork and Worry. — The miseries of "overwork," pure 
and simple, are few and comparatively insignificant. . . . The 
natural safeguards are so well fitted for their task that neither 
body nor mind is exposed to the peril of serious exhaustion so 
long as their functions are duly performed. Overwork is impos- 
sible so long as the effort made is natural. . . . There is then 
no excuse for idleness in the pretense of possible injury. If 
insane asylums were searched for the victims of "overwork," 
they would nearly all be found to have fallen a prey to "worry," 
or to the degeneracy which results from lack of purpose in life, 
and of steady employment. . . . The cause or condition which 
most commonly exposes the reseiwe of mental energy to loss 
and injury is worry. When a strong and active mind breaks 
down suddenly in the midst of business, it is usually worn out 
by this cause rather than by the other. . . . W^ork in the teeth 
of worry is fraught with peril. The unhappy victim is ever on the 
verge of a catastrophe ; if he escape, the marvel is not at his 
strength of intellect so much as at his good fortune. Worry is 
disorder, however induced, and disordei'ly work is abhorred b.v 
the laws of nature, which leave it wholly without remedy. 

The pernicious system of Cram slays its thousands, because 
uneducated, undeveloped, inelastic intellects are burdened and 
strained with information adroitly deposited in the niemor) .— 



334 THE KEEVOUS SYSTEM. 

as an expert valet packs a portmanteau, with the articles likely 
to be first wanted on the ' top. Desultory occupation, mere 
play with objects of which the true interest is not appreciated, 
ruins a still larger number. But worry, that bane of brain- 
work and mental energj^, counts its \dctims by tens of thou- 
sands.— Dr. J. Mortimer G-raxvtlle, in " Worry," Nineteenth 
Century. 

Sleep (p. 20Q).— Some Curiosities of Sleep. — One of the 
most refijied and exquisite methods of torture is long continued 
deprivation of sleep. The demand for unconscious rest is so im- 
perious that nature will accommodate itself to the most unfavor- 
able surrounding conditions. Thus, in forced marches, regiments 
have been known to sleep while walking; men have slept 
soundly in the saddle ; and persons will sometimes sleep during 
the din of battle. It is remarkable how noises to which we have 
been accustomed vi.ll fail to disturb our natural rest. Those 
who have been long habituated to the endless noise of a crowded 
citj' frequently find difficulty in sleeping in the oppressive still- 
ness of the country. Prolonged exposure to intense cold induces 
excessive somnolence, and if this be induced, the sleep passes 
into stupor, the power of resistance to cold becomes rapidly 
diminished, and death is the inevitable result. Intense heat 
often produces drowsiness, but, as is well known, is not favor- 
able to natural sleep. ... It is difficult to determine with 
exactness the phenomena of sleep that are absolutely physio- 
logical, and to separate those that are sUghtly abnormal. TTe 
can not assert, for example, that a dreamless sleep is the only 
normal condition of repose of the sj'stem ; nor can we determine 
what dreams are due to previous trains of thought, or to such 
impressions from the external world received during sleep as 
are purely physiological, and what are due to abnormal nervous 
influence, disordered digestion, etc. 

The most remarkable experiments upon the production of 
dreams of a definite character, by subjecting a person during 
sleep to peculiar influences, are those of Maurj^. The hallucina- 
tions produced in this way are called hypnagogic (from its deri- 
vation this term is properly applied only to phenomena observed 
at the instant when we fall asleep, or when we are imperfectly 
awakened, and not to the period of most perfect repose), and 



SLEEP. B 8 O 

they occur when the subject is not in a condition favorable to 
sound sleep. 

The experiments made by Maury upon himself are so curious 
and interesting that we quote the most striking of them in full. 

First Observation. — I am tickled with a feather successively 
on the lips and inside of the nostrils. I dream that I am sub- 
jected to a horrible punishment, that a mask of pitch is applied 
to my face, and then roughly torn off, tearing the skin of the 
lip, the nose, and the face. 

Second Observation. — A pair of pincers is held at a little dis- 
tance from my ear, and rubbed with steel scissors. I dream 
that I hear the ringing of bells ; this soon becomes a tocsin, 
and I imagine myself in the days of June, 1848. (The time of 
the French Revolution.) 

Third Observation. — I am caused to inhale Cologne water. 
I dream I am in a perfumer's shop ; the idea of perfumes 
doubtless awakens the idea of the East; I am in Cairo, in the 
shop of Jean Farina. . . . 

Fifth Observation. — I am slightly pinched on the nape of 
the neck. I dream that a blister is applied, which recalls to my 
mind a physician who had treated me in infancy. 

Seventh Observation The words Azar, Castor, Leonore, 

were pronounced in my ear; on awaking I recollected that I 
had heard the last two words, which I attributed to one of the 
persons who had conversed with me in my dream. — Flint's 
Physiology of Man. 

The transition-stage between the dream simple and the 
dream acted is witnessed in the spasmodic movements which a 
vivid dream produces in the limbs or person of the sleeper. 
The dreamer engages in a fierce struggle, and twitchings of his 
legs and arms indicate the feeble response of body to the 
promptings of mind removed from its wonted power over the 
frame. Even the dog, as he sleeps, apparently dreams of the 
chase, and gives vent to his sensations by the short, sharp bark, 
or sniffs the air, and starts in his slumber as if in response to 
the activity with which, in his dreaming, he is hurrying along 
after the object of piu'suit. . . . Persons have boon known to 
swim for a considerable time in the siMunambulistic state with- 
out waking at the termination of {\\o\v '}o\\v\\o\ \ others have 



SS6 The neevous system. 

safely descended the shaft of a mine, while some have ascended 
steep cliffs, and have returned home in safety during a pro- 
longed sleep-vigil. (See p. 204.) — Dr. Andrew Wilson, F.R.S.E., 
WTiat Dreams are Made of. 

Sleep and Conscience. — Edward Everett Hale says : Xever 
go to bed in any danger of being hungry. People are kept 
awake by hunger quite as much as by a bad conscience. Re- 
membering that sleep is the essential force which starts the 
whole system, decline tea or coffee within the last six hours 
before going to bed. Avoid all mathematics or intricate study 
of any sort in the last six hours. This is the stuff dreams are 
made of, and hot heads, and the nuisances of waking hours. 
Keep your conscience clear. Remember that because the work 
of life is infinite, you can not do the whole of it in any limited 
period of time, and that therefore you may just as well leave 
off in one place as another. 

The Art of Bising Early. — The proper time to rise is when 
sleep ends. Dozing should not be allowed. True sleep is the 
aggregate of sleeps, or is a state consisting in the sleeping or 
rest of all the several parts of the organism. Sometimes one 
and at other times another part of the body, as a whole, may 
be the least fatigued, and so the first to awake ; or the most 
exhausted, and therefore the most difficult to arouse. The secret 
of good sleep is, the physiological conditions of rest being estab- 
lished, so to work and weary the several parts of the organism 
as to give them a proportionately equal need of rest at the same 
moment. To wake early, and feel ready to rise, a fair and 
equal start of the sleepers should be secured ; and the wise self- 
manager should not allow a drowsy feeling of unconsciousness, 
or weary senses, or an exhausted muscular system, to beguile 
him into the folly of going to sleep again when once he has 
been aroused. After a few days of self-discipline, the man who 
resolves not to doze, that is, not to allow some sleepy part of 
Ms body to keep him in bed after his brain has once awakened, 
will find himself, without knowing why, an early riser. 

Influence of Sunlight (p. 207). — Light is an essential ele- 
ment in producing the grand phenomena of life, though its 
action is ill understood. Where there is light there is life, and 
any deprivation of this principle is rapidlj^ followed by disease 



INi'LUENCE OF SUNLIGHT. 88 7 

of the animal frame, and the destruction of the mental facul- 
ties. We have proof of this in the squalor of those whose ne- 
cessities compel them to labor in places to which the blessings 
of sunshine never penetrate, as in our coal-mines, where men 
having every thing necessary for health, except light, exhibit a 
singularly unhealthy appearance. The state of fatuity and 
wretchedness to which those individuals have been reduced, who 
have been subjected for years to incarceration in dark dungeons, 
may be referred to the same deprivation. — Robert Hunt, Poetry 
of Science, 

Effect of Dungeon Life. — " You can not imagine, Mr. Ken- 
nan," said a condemned revolutionist to me in Siberia, "the misery 
of prolonged confinement in a casemate of the fortress under what 
are known as dungeon conditions. My casemate was sometimes 
cold, generally damp, and always gloomy. Day after day, week 
after week, month after month, I lay there in solitude, hearing no 
sound save that ol the high-pitched, melancholy bells of the for- 
tress cathedral, which slowly chimed the quarter-hours, and which 
always seemed to say : ' Here thou liest — lie here still.' I had 
absolutely nothing to do except to pace my cell from corner to 
corner, and think. For a long time I used to talk to myself in 
a whisper ; to repeat softly every thing in the shape of litera- 
ture that I could remember, and to compose speeches which, 
under certain imagined conditions, I would deliver ; but I finallj' 
ceased to have energy enough to do even this, and used to sit 
for hours in a sort of stupor, in which, so far as I can now 
remember, I was not conscious of flunking at all. Before the 
end of the first year, I grew so weak, mentally and physically, 
that I began to forget words. I knew what ideas I desired to 
express, but some of the words that T needed had gone from 
me, and it was with the greatest difficulty that I could recover 
them. It seemed sometimes as if my own language were a 
strange one to me, or one which, from long disuse, T had for- 
gotten. I greatly feared insanity, and my apprehension was 
increased by the fact that two or three of my comrades in colls 
on the same corridor were either insane or subject to hallucina- 
tions ; and T was often roused at night and thrcnvn into a vio- 
lent chill of nervous excitement by their liysterical weeping. 
their cries to the guard to come and take awav somebodv. or 



o88 THE i>rERYOUS SYSTEM. 

something which they imagined they saw, or their groans and 
entreaties when, in cases of violent delirium, they were strapped 
to their beds by the gend'armes." — G-eoege Kennan^ in Russian 
State Prisoners, The Centwry, March, 1888. 

The Growth and Power of Poison Habits (p. 218).— In 
order to distinguish a poison-stimulant from a harmless and nu- 
tritive substance, Nature has furnished us three infallible tests : 

1. The first taste of every poison is either insipid or repul- 
sive. 

2. The persistent obtrusion of the noxious substance changes 
that aversion into a specific craving. 

3. The more or less pleasurable excitement produced by a 
gratification of that craving is always followed by a depressing 
reaction. . . . 

One radical fallacy identifies the stimulant habit in all its 
disguises : its victims mistake a process of irritation for one of 
invigoration. . . . Sooner or later the tonic is sure to pall while 
the morbid craving remains, and forces its victims either to in- 
crease the quantity of the wonted stimulant, or else to resort to 
a stronger poison. A boy begins with ginger-beer and ends in 
ginger-rum; the medical "tonic" delusion progresses from malt 
extract to Mumf ord's Elixir ; and the nicotine habit once intro- 
duced, the alcohol habit often follows. The tendency of every 
stimulant habit is toward a stronger tonic. . . . We have found 
that the road to the rum-shop is paved with "mild stimulants," 
and that every bottle of medical bitters is apt to get the vender 
a permanent customer. "We have found that cider and mild ale 
lead to strong ale, to lager-beer, and finally to rum, and the truth 
at last dawns upon us that the only safe, consistent, and effective 
plan is Total Abstinence from all Poisons. 

More than the hunger after bread, more than the 

frenzy of love or hatred, the poison-hunger overpowers every 
other instinct, even the fear of death. Dr. Isaac Jennings has 
illustrated this by the following example: A clergyman of his 
acquaintance attempted to dissuade a young man of great prom- 
ise from habits of intemperance. "Hear me first a few words," 
said the young man, "and then you may proceed. I am sen- 
sible that an indulgence in this habit will lead to the loss of 
property, the loss of reputation and domestic happiness, to pre- 



Tl-iE GROWTH OF Pols ON HABITS. 3^9 

mature death, and to the irretrievable loss of my immortal soul ; 
and now, with all this conviction resting firmly on my mind and 
flashing over my conscience like lightning, if I still continue to 
drink, do you suppose any thing you can say will deter me from 
the practice?" 

Ignorance is a chief cause of intemperance. The 

seductions of vice would not mislead so many of our young men 
if they could realize the significance of their nnstake. There is 
still a lingering belief that, with due precaution against excess 
and adulteration, a dram-drinker might "get ahead" of Nature, 
and, as it were, trick her out of some extra enjoyment. There 
is no hope of a radical reform till intelligent people have real- 
ized the fact that this "trick" is in every instance a losing 
game, entailing penalties which far outweigh the pleasures that 
the novice may mistake for enjoyments. For the depression of 
the vital energy increases with every repetition of the stimu- 
lating process, and in a year after the first dose all the "grateful 
and exhilarating tonics" of our professional poison-venders can 
not restore the vigor, the courage, and the cheerfulness which 
the mere consciousness of perfect health imparts to the total 
abstainer. A great plurality of all beginners underrate the dif- 
ficulty of controlling the cravings of a morbid appetite. They 
remember that their natural inclinations at first opposed, rather 
than encouraged, the indulgence ; and they feel that at the pres- 
ent stage of its development the}" could abjure the passion 
without difficulty. But they overlook the fact that the moral 
power of resistance decreases with each repetition of the dose, 
and that the time will come when only the practical impossi- 
bility of procuring their wonted tipple will enable them to keep 
their pledge of total abstinence. It is true that, by the exercise 
of a constant self-restraint, a person of great will-force may 
resist the progressive tendency of the poison habit and confine 
himself for years to a single cigar or a single bottle of wine per 
day. . . . But the attempt to resist that bias will overtask the 
strength of most individuals. According to the allegory of the 
Grecian myth, the car of Bacchus was drawn by tigers ; and it 
is a significant circumstance that war. famine, and pestilence 
have so often been tlu^ fcn-iMnuuKM-s o\' veritable alcohol epidem- 
ics. , . . The explanation is that, i\['[cv the stinuilanl habit has 



340 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

once been initiated, every unusual depression of mental or phys- 
ical vigor calls for an increased application of the accustomed 
method of relief. . . . Nations who are addicted to the worship 
of a poison-god will use his temple as a place of refuge from 
every calamity ; and children whose petty ailments have been 
palliated with narcotics, wine, and cordials, will afterward be 
tempted to drown their greater sorrows in deeper draughts of 
the same nepenthe. — Felix L. Oswald, M.D., Remedies of Nature, 
Popular Science Monthly, October and Noveniber, 18S3. 

Dangers from the Use of Narcotics.— It may seem a 
paradox, it is a truism, to say that in the value of narcotics 
lies their peril. Because they have such power for good, be- 
cause the suffering which they alleviate is in its lighter forms 
so common, because neuralgia and sleeplessness are ailments as 
familiar to the present generation as gout, rheumatism, and 
catarrh were to our grandfathers, therefore the medicines which 
immediately relieve sleeplessness and neuralgic pain are among 
the most dangerous possessions, the most subtle temptations of 
civilized life. Every one of these drugs has, besides its instant 
and beneficial effect, other and injurious tendencies. The relief 
which it gives is purchased at a certain price ; for, at each repe- 
tition of the dose, the immediate relief is lessened or rendered 
uncertain, while the mischievous influence is enhanced and ag- 
gravated ; till, when the drug has become a necessity of life it 
has lost the greater part, if not the whole, of its value, and 
serves only to satisfy the need which itself alone has created. 
.... We read weekly of men and women poisoned by an 
overdose of some favorite sedative, burned to death or otherwise 
fatally injured, while insensible from self-administered ether or 
chloroform. ... The narcotist keeps chloroform or chloral 
always at hand, forgetful or ignorant that one sure effect of the 
first dose is to produce a^ semi-stupor more dangerous than actual 
somnolence. In that semi-stupor the patient is aware, or fan- 
cies, that the dose has failed. The pain that has induced a ladj^ 
to hold a chloroformed handkerchief under her nostrils returns 
while her will and her judgment are half paralyzed. She takes 
the bottle from the table beside her bed, intending to pour an 
additional supply upon her handkerchief. The unsteady hand 
perhaps spills a quantity on the sheet, perhaps sinks with the 



DANGERS FROM NARCOTICS. 541 

unstoppered bottle under her nostrils, and in a few moments 
she has inhaled enough utterly to stupefy, if not to kill. The 
sleepless brain-worker also feels that his usual dose of chloral 
has failed to bring sleep ; he is not aware how completely it 
has stupefied the brain, to which it has not given rest. His 
judgment is gone, so is his steadiness of hand ; and he pours 
out a second and too often a fatal dose. . . . But the cases 
that' end in a death terrible to the family, though probably in- 
volving little or no suffering to the victim himself, are by no 
means the worst. A life poisoned, paralyzed, rendered worth- 
less for all the uses of intellectual, rational, we might almost 
say of human existence, is worse for the sufferer himself and 
for all around him than a quick and painless death ; and for 
one such death there must be twenty, if not a hundred, instances 
of this worst death in life. . . . The demoralization of the 
narcotist is not, like that of the drunkard, rapid, violent, and 
palpable ; but gradual, insidious, perceptible at first only to 
close observers and intimate friends. Here and there we find a 
constitution upon which opium exerts few or none of its char- 
acteristic effects. Such cases are, of course, wholly exceptional ; 
but their very existence is a danger to others, misleading them 
into the idea that they may dally with the tempter without fall- 
ing under its yoke, or may fall under that yoke and find it a 
light one. I doubt, however, whether the most fortunate of its 
victims would encourage the latter idea ; whether there be an 
opium-eater who would not give a limb never to have known 
what opium-slavery means. . . . Besides, no one can be sure, 
or indeed reasonably hope, that the mischief will be confined to 
the individual victim. That the children of drunkards are often 
predisposed to insanity is notorious ; that the children of ha- 
bitual opium-eaters inherit an unmistakable taint, whether in a 
diseased brain, in morbid cravings, or simply in a will too weak 
to resist temptation, is less notorious, but equally certain. — 
Percy Greg, Narcotics and Stimulants, Conte)}iporar(/ Berieir. 

Thus also in America scarcely a. week passers but wo see 
announced in the public prints deaths ov suicides resuhing from 
the use of narcotics. Now, it is ffoin tobacci^ : .V Yale College 
student di(^s from excessive smoking; another student in the 
same college, and as a result o\' the same habit, commits suicide; 



342 THE KEEVOUS SYSTEM. 

a third young man is found dead in his bed in New York, 
from heart-disease induced by cigarettes ; and so, month by 
month, and year by year, grows in rapid increase the Hst of 
tobacco-deaths. — Or, again, it is from opium. A Harvard student 
with two of his college companions in search of a new sensa- 
tion, tries opium-smoking one fatal night and dies before morn- 
ing ; a woman in Ohio, belonging to a prominent family, dies 
at the age of thirty-three years, from an overdose of morphine, 
her body covered with hypodermic scars ; another, once the re- 
spected wife of a Baptist clerg^mian, becomes a morphine-drunk- 
ard, drifts, step by step, into a Central New York Alms-house, 
and there hangs herself; a third, young, accomplished, and 
wealthy, falls first a victim to the morphine habit, then to 
opium-smoking, finally becomes the frequenter of a New York 
opium-joint, and so is lost forever to home, friends, and respect- 
ability. — Occasionally it is cocaine, as in the case of the Chi- 
cago physician, who, for the purposes of investigation, experi- 
'ments with this new drug upon himself, his wife, and finally 
upon his innocent children ; the entire family being found un- 
conscious from the effects of the subtle narcotic. These are but 
solitary instances in an appallingly long list of similar cases, most 
of which have occurred within the last two years (1887-'88). 

Cigarette-smoking is chargeable with a growing demoraliza- 
tion and mortality among boys and young men. It is no un- 
common sight to see lads of ten years old and under, with the 
irresponsibility of ignorant childhood, puffing the dangerous cig- 
arette, and thus undermining health and intellect at the very 
outset of useful existence. Even when told of the near and re- 
mote perils thus incurred, they scarcely listen, for do not they 
see their elders smoke and prosper ? — Most of them do not un- 
derstand that there is more danger to the young than to the 
old in the tobacco habit, more danger to some constitutions than 
to others, and more danger in the cigarette than even in the 
pipe or the cigar. Pause a moment to consider it, boys, when 
you are tempted to light the clean-looking, paper-covered roll 
and place it in your mouth. Think of the heated smoke irritat- 
ing the delicate membrane in 3-our throat, dulling your brain, 
and vitiating the blood which should be bounding fresh and pure 
through your veins. Think of the many filthy and diseased 



DANGERS FROM NARCOTICS 343 

mouths from which have been cast away the tobacco refuse, 
picked up in streets and pubHc places to re-appear in the "Cheap 
and Popular Brand" which looks to you so innocent and so at- 
tractive. It is astonishing, indeed, how an otherwise cleanly boy 
will consent to defile himself with these vile abominations. And 
yet, I have known lads who — not always with perfect politeness 
— would fastidiously refuse "hash" at their mother's breakfast 
table, but who would shortly afterward serenely place one of 
these unknowable compounds between their lips and walk away 
with the air of superior manhood ! 

Of Chloral Hydrate, Dr Fothergill remarks- "When this was 
announced with a flourish of trumpets as a perfectly innocuous 
narcotic, the sleepless folk hailed its advent with eager acclama- 
tion. But a little experience soon demonstrated that the innoc- 
uous, harmless drug was far from the boon it was proclaimed. 
In fact, the impression of its harmlessness was the outcome of 
ignorance of its properties. Death after death, even among 
medical men themselves, as well as non-professional persons, 
have already resulted from the use, or rather misuse, of this nar- 
cotic agent." 

The Bromides (of Soda or Potash), also, should be used with 
caution, and only on the prescription of a conscientious physician. 
"The bromide of potash," says Percy Greg, "is claimed not to 
produce sleep by stupefaction, like chloral or opium, but, at 
least in small doses, to allay the nervous irritability which is 
often the sole cause of sleeplessness. But in larger quantities 
and in its ultimate effects, it is scarcely less to be dreaded than 
chloral." Overdoses of the bromides will produce among other 
evil effects a peculiar eruption upon the face, which, though gen- 
erally temporary, is liable to re-appear from time to time 
under certain conditions of the system, and especially upon a 
subsequent dose, however dilute. 

Absinthe is a compound of absinthium (the essence of ^^•orm- 
wood), various aromatic oils, and alcohol. Absinthium, taken in 
small doses, induces trembling, stupor, and insensibility ; in larger 
doses, epilepsy. When, therefore, this dangerous essence is added 
to alcohol, it strengthens its influence to specitic disease. Ab- 
sinthe-drinking is recognized in France as siu'h a serious vice 
that it has been ofUcially prohibited in tlie anny aiul navv. 



344 THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

Hasheesh is a syrup .prepared from the leaves and flowers 
of Indian Hemp. Tliough its use in this country is compara- 
tively small, instances are not unknown in which reckless or 
curious persons have fatally experimented with it. As a ined- 
icine, it is in limited use, and with results not always satisfac- 
tory. It acts in a peculiar manner upon the nervous centers, 
occasioning that strange condition of the nervous system called 
catalepsy, iuvwhich the limbs of the unconscious patient remain 
stationary in whatever position they may be placed. After an 
average dose of hasheesh, the subject becomes the helpless vic- 
tim of rapidly shifting ideas, a prominent characteristic of which 
is an entire loss of judgment as to time and place. A larger 
dose produces hallucinations and delirium, with that distressing 
sensation of falling through endless space which is induced in 
some people by opium.* 

* In an article entitled "An Overdose of Hasheesh." {Popular Science 
Monthly^ February, 1884\ Miss Mary A. Hungerford gives a vivid descrip- 
tion of a painful experience with this drug, some portion of which is as 
follows : 

" Being one of the grand army of sufferers from headache, I took, last 
summer, by order of my physician, three small daily doses of hasheesh in 

the hope of holding my intimate enemy in check I grew to regard 

the drug as a harmless medicine, and one day, when I was assured by some 
familiar symptoms that my headache was about to assume an aggrS^vated 
form, I took a larger quantity than had been prescribed. Twenty minutes 
later I was seized with a strange sinking or faintness which gave my family 
so miich alarm that they telephoned at once for the doctor. 

" One terrible reality — I can hardly term it a fancy even now— 

that came to me again and again, was so painful that it must, I fear, 
always be a vividly remembered agony. ... I died, as I believed, 
although by a strange double consciousness I knew that I should again re- 
animate the body I had left. In leaving it I did not soar away, as one 
delights to think of the freed spirits soaring. . . .1 sank, an intangible, 
impalpable shape, through the bed, the floors, the cellar, the earth, down, 
down, down ! Like a fragment of glass dropping through the ocean, I 
dropped uninterruptedly through the earth and its atmosphere, and then 

fell on and on forever As time went on, and my dropping through 

space continued, I became filled with the most profound loneliness, and a 
desperate fear took hold of me that I should be thus alone forever more, and 
fall and fall eternally. There was, it seemed to me, a forgotten text 
which, if remembered, would be the spell to stop my fatal falling. I 
sought in my memory for it, I prayed to recall it, I fought for it madly, 
wrestling against the terrible fate which seemed to withhold it. Single words 
of it came to me in disconnected mockery, but erased themselves instantane- 
ously. Mentally, I writhed in such hopeless agony that, in thinking of it, 
I wonder I could have borne such excess of emotion and lived I 



DANGERS FKOM NAliCOTICS. 3-15 

Concerning all these and other narcotics, it should never be 
forgotten that they are true poisons, sold with the mark of skull 
and cross-bones, useful, like strychnine and henbane, in the 
hands of a skillful physician, but fraught with deadly danger 
when otherwise employed. Their private use is never safe. The 
weak and nervous invalid, who can not by hygienic means build 
up new strength, need never hope to gain it by surreptitiously 
indulging in popular narcotics. Instead, he will soon discover that 
he has but added to his list of ills a new and fatal one. — E. B. S. 



began, then, without having reached any goal, to ascend. As I rose, a 
great and terrible voice from a vast distance pronounced my doom : ' Pall, 
fall, fall, to rise again in hopeless misery, and sink again in lonely agony for- 
ever.'' . . . Then ensued a wild and terrible commingling of unsyllabled 
sounds, so unearthly that it is not in the power of language to fitly describe 
them. It was something like a mighty Niagara of shrieks and groans, com- 
bined with the fearful din and crash of thousands of battles and the thun- 
derous roar of a stormy sea I fought my upward way in an agony 

which resembled nothing so much as the terrible moment when, from stran- 
gling or suffocation, all the forces of life struggle against death, and wrestle 
madly for another breath. In place of the woful sounds now reigned a deadly 
stillness, broken only at long but regular intervals by a loud report, as if a 
cannon, louder than any I ever heard on earth, were discharged at my side, 
almost shot into me, I might say, for the sound appeared to rend me from 
head to foot, and then to die away into the dax^k chaos about me in strange, 
shuddering reverberations. Even in the misery of my ascending I was filled 
with a dread expectancy of the cruel sound. It gave me a feeling of acute 
physical torture, with a lingering intensity that bodily suffering could not 
have. It was repeated an incredible number of times, and always ^yith. the 
same suffering and shock to me. At last the sound came oftener, but with 
less force, and I seemed again neari ng the shores of time. Dimly in the 
far distance I saw the room I had left, myself lying still and death-like 
upon the bed, and the friends watching me Then, silently and in- 
visibly I floated into the room, and was one with myself again. 

" ' She is conscious now,' I heard one of the doctoi*s say, and he 

gently lifted the lids of my eyes and looked into them. I tried my best to 
throw aU the intelligence I could into them, and returned his look with 
one of recognition. But, even with my eyes fixed on his, I felt mj-^elf 
going again in spite of my craving to stay. I longed to implore the doctor 
to save me, to keep me from the unutterable anguish of falling into the 
vastness and vagueness of that shadowy sea of nothingness again. T clasped 
my hands in wild entreaty; I was shaken by horrible convulsions — so, at 
least, it seemed to me at the time— b\it, beyond a slight quivering of the 

fingers, no movement was discernible by the i>thers For five houi-s 

I remained in the same condition— short intervals of half-consciousness and 

then long lapses into the agonizing experiences I have described 

Coming out of the last trance, I discovered that the measured rending re- 
port like the discharge of a cannon, which attended niv u}i\vard way, was 
the throbbing of my own heart." 



346 THE SPECIAL SENSES, 



THE SPECIAL SENSES. 

An Educated Sense of Touch (p. 230). — Laura Dewey 
Bridgman, teacher in the Perkins Institute for the Bhnd, South 
Boston, lost her sight, hearing, and sense of smell, when she 
was two years of age. At the age of eight years she was taken 
to the institution where she yet remains. At this time, by follow- 
ing her mother around the house she had become famihar with 
home appointments, and by feeling her mother's hands and 
arms had also learned to sew and knit. When she first became 
an inmate of the Perkins Institute, she was bewildered by her 
strange surroundings, but after she had become used to place 
and people, through her one and only sense, her education was 
carefully begun. Through indomitable effort on the part of her 
preceptor, she was taught to write, read, and spell, by means 
of her fingers, and thus to exchange sentiments with her teachers 
and with others skilled in the mysterious language of the blind 
and the mute. She is now as proficient in the ordinary branches 
of learning as is the average person, possessed of all the senses. 
Her studies include geography, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, 
history, and philosophy. She makes her own clothing, can run 
a sewing-machine, and observes great neatness in her dress and 
the arrangements of her room. Her character is religious, 
and she has great success as a teacher. Not long since, she 
celebrated, on the same day, her fifty-eighth birthday and 
the fiftieth anniversary of her entrance to the Perkins Insti- 
tute. During her earher years, it was her practice to keep 
a journal, and she now has about forty manuscript books of 
her own making. She has also written three autobiographical 
sketches, several poems, and is an accomplished correspondent. 
When Miss Bridgman expresses pleasure, she clasps her hands 
and smiles. So keen and refined are her sensibihties, that 
it is said she can, in a small way, appreciate the beauty of 
music by means of the sound vibrations on the floor. — Mks. 

GrEOEGE AeCHIBALD. 

The Nose (p. 232).— The Anatomy of the A^ose.— Probably 
most of us look upon the nose as a double hole in the head, by 
which we get, with more or less acuteness, a sense of smell, and 



THE NOSE. 347 

through which we occasionally breathe. The intricate mechanism, 
and the skillful adaptation of means to end, which, in common 
with the other organs of special sense, it exhibits, naturally do 
not reveal themselves to any but the students of anatomy and 
physiology. Its fourteen bones are probably better hidden than 
any other fourteen bones of the body, and assist in converting 
what would otherwise be a mere channel of communication, 
into a series of cavities designed and adapted for particular 
purposes. The arch of four bones which forms the bridge of 
the nose, and which is of such strength as to enable the gym- 
nast of the circus to perform the feat of supporting with it a 
man on a ladder, is pieced on with cartilage to form the nos- 
trils, through which the nose communicates with the outer air. 
Similar openings behind connect it with the upper and posterior 
parts of the mouth. The space between these anterior and pos- 
terior openings makes a large chamber, divided by a vertical 
wall into halves, each of which is still further separated into 
three irregular cavities by three bones, called spongy,. from the 
porosity and delicacy of their texture. The ceiling of these 
chambers is formed by a bone of the thinness of paper, upon 
which lies the front part of the brain, — a fact the Egyptians 
made use of in embalming their corpses, easily crushing this 
bone, and extracting the brain through the nostrils. This bone 
is called cribriform (sieve-like), because it is perforated by many 
minute holes, through which, from the olfactory bulbs (special- 
ized parts of the brain in which is resident the capacity of 
smell) that rest on its upper surface, issue the delicate filaments 
of the olfactory nerves, to spread themselves over the lining 
membrane oi the two upper spongy bones. It is in the upper 
chambers of the nose, therefore, that the function of smell is 
performed ; the nerves that supply the lower spongy bone being 
entirely unconnected with the organs of smell. Over these lat- 
ter, however, sweep in and out the currents of air when the 
act of respiration is properly carried out, and it is these that 
are especially concerned in its abnormal performance. Usually 
but a very little of the volume of air that traverses the lower 
chamber of the nose has any influence upon its upper regions ; 
and therefore, when our attention is attracted b\' an odor, wo 
sniff, in order to bring a larger (Quantity of air into contact 



348 THE SPECIAL SEXSES. 

^^-itll the higher parts of the nose, or olfactoiy cavities, where 
odors are perceived. 

But the half has not been told of the anatomical and physi- 
ological arrangements of the nose. By minute openings its 
chambers have communication vdxh. many other parts of the 
head, — with the hollow that forms the greater part of the cheek- 
bone ; with the eye by a minute spout that carries off the 
lachrjTiial secretion, unless the tears are so abundant as to roll 
down the cheeks ; with the front of the roof of the mouth ; 
with the abundant cells of the bone that makes the forehead, 
and the congestion of whose lining membrane probably accounts 
for the severe headache that so often accompanies and aggra- 
vates a "cold in the head." The gateway to the inner air- 
passages, its abundant surfaces raise the aii' inspired to the 
temperature of the body, supply it with the moisture it lacks, and 
sift from it more or less of the mechanical impurities with 
which the atmosphere of our houses and shops is laden. — 
Maurice D. Claeke, M.D., Popular Science News, April, 188S. 

Smell Necessary to Taste. — What we are in the habit of 
calling a "taste," is in most cases a compound of smell, taste, 
temperature, and touch — these four sensations ranking in gas- 
tronomic importance in the order in which they are here named. 
. . . Amusing experiments may be made, showing that without 
the sense of smell it is commonly quite impossible to distinguish 
between different articles of food and drink. Blindfold a person 
and make him clasp his nose tightly, then put successively into 
his mouth small pieces of beef, mutton, veal, and pork, and it 
is safe to predict that he will not be able to tell one morsel 
from another. The same result will be obtained with chicken, 
turkey, and duck ; with pieces of almond, walnut, and hazel- 
nut ; with slices of apple, peach, and pear ; or with different 
kinds of cheese, if care be taken that such kinds are chosen as 
do not, by their peculiar composition, betray their identity 
through the nerves of touch in the mouth. To hold an article 
of food under the nose at table would be justly considered a 
breach of etiquette. But there is a second way of smelling, of 
which most people are quite unconscious, \4z., by exhaling through 
the nose while eating and drinking. ... It is well known that 
only a small portion of the mucous membrane which hnes the 



THE NOSE. 349 

nostrils is the seat of the endings of the nerves of smell. In 
ordinary expiration, the air does not touch this olfactory region, 
but by a special effort it can be turned into that direction. . . . 
Instinct teaches most persons while eating to guide the air, im- 
pregnated with the fragrance of the food, to a part of the nos- 
trils different from that used during ordinary exhalation ; but, 
being unaccustomed to psychologic analysis of their sensations, 
they remain quite unconscious of this proceeding, and are, in- 
deed, in the habit of confusing their sensations of taste, smell, 
touch, and temperature in a most absurd manner. . . . 

In trying to ascertain by experiment how far smell, touch, 
and temperature enter into this compound sensation, popularly 
known as "taste," it is best to make use of the pungent condi- 
ments. Mustard and horse-radish, for example, have little or 
no taste, but reserve their pungent effect for the mucous mem- 
brane of the nose during expiration. It is an advantage to 
know this, for if care is taken to breathe only through the 
mouth, we need no longer prepare to shed tears every time we 
help ourselves to the mustard. The pungent quality of mustard, 
the fiery quality of ginger, and the cool sensation in the mouth 
after eating peppermint, are due to the nerves of touch and 
temperature, which are commonly classed as one sense, though 
they are quite as distinct sensations as sight and hearing, or 
taste and smell. . . . 

There are two ways in wliich the effort to extract all its 
fragrance from a morsel of food confers a benefit. 

(1.) It is necessary to keep the morsel in the month as long 
as possible. Now the habit thus formed of eating verj^ slowly 
is of the utmost importance, for if farinaceous articles of food 
are swallowed before the saliva has had time to act on them, 
they are little better than so much waste material taken into 
the system ; and if meat is not thoroughly masticated, the 
stomach is overloaded with work which should have been doiu» 
by the teeth ; the result, in either case, is dyspepsia. It luis 
been suggested that Mr. Gladstone owes his remarkabk> physical 
vigor to certain rules for chewing food, which he adopted in 
1848, and to which he has adhered in-er since. "He bad 
always," we are told, "paid great attenticHi to the ivqninMuents 
of Nature, but he then laid down as a i-ule for his childivn thai 



350 THE SPECIAL SENSES. 

thirty-two bites should be given to each mouthful of meat, and 
a somewhat lesser number to bread, fish, etc." 

(2.) Besides this indirect advantage resulting from the effort 
to get at the fragrant odors of food, there is a still more re- 
markable direct advantage. It is one of the most curious 
psychologic facts that odors exert a strong influence on our 
system, either exhilarating or depressing. AYhile an unpleasant 
odor may cause a person to faint, the fumes of the smelling- 
bottle v»dll restore him to consciousness. The magic and value 
of gastronomic odors lies in this, that they stimulate the flow 
of saliva and other alimentary juices, thus making sure that 
the food eaten will be thoroughly utilized in renovating the 
system. — Hexry T. Fixck, in ''The Gastronomic Value of Odors.'' 

Hygiene of the Ear (p. 236).— JVeuer Box a Child's Ear.— 
Children and grown persons alike may be entirely deafened by 
falls or heavy blows upon the head. Boxing the ears produces 
a similar effect, though more slowly and in less degree, and t^ends 
to dull the sensibility of the nerve, even if it does not hurt the 
membrane. I knew a youth who died from a terrible disease 
of the ear. There had been a discharge from it since he was a 
child. Of course his hearing had been dull ; and his father had 
often lioxed his ear for inattention ! Most likely that boxing on 
the ear, diseased as it was, had much to do with his death. 
And this brings me to the second point. Children should never 
be blamed for being inattentive, until it has been found out 
whether they are not a httle deaf. This is easily done by plac- 
ing them at a few yards' distance, and trying whether they can 
understand what is said to them in a rather low tone of voice. 
Each ear should be tried, while the other is stopped by the 
finger. Three things should be remembered here : 1. That slight 
degrees of deafness, often lasting only for a time, are very com- 
mon among children, especially during or after colds. 2. That 
a slight deafness, which does not prevent a person from hearing 
when he is expecting to be spoken to, will make him very dull 
to what he is not expecting. 3. That there is a kind of deaf- 
ness in which a person can hear pretty well while listening, but 
is really very hard of hearing when not listening. 

Avoid Direct Draughts in the ^ar.— There are some expos- 
ures especially to be guarded against. One is sitting or driving 



HYGIENE OF THE EAR. 351 

with the ear exposed to a side wind. Deafness has also been 
known to come from letting rain or sleet drive into the ear. 

Do not Remove the Ear-wax. — It ought to be understood 
that the passage of the ear does not require cleaning by us. 
Nature undertakes that task, and, in the healthy state, fulfills it 
perfectly. Her means for cleansing the ear is the wax. Perhaps 
the reader has never wondered what becomes of the ear-wax. 
I will tell him. It dries up into thin fine scales, and these peel 
off, one by one, from the surface of the passage, and fall out 
imperceptibly, leaving behind them „a perfectly clean, smooth 
surface. In health the passage of the ear is never dirty; but, 
if we attempt to clean it, we infallibly make it so. Washing 
the ear out frequently with soap and water keeps the wax moist 
when it ought to become dry and scaly, increases its quantity 
unduly, and makes it absorb the dust with which the air always 
abounds. But the most hurtful thing is introducing the corner 
of the towel, screwed up, and twisting it round. This does more 
harm to ears than all other mistakes together. It drives down 
the wax upon the membrane, much more than it gets it out. 
But this plan does much more mischief than merely pressing 
down the wax. It irritates the passage, and makes it cast off 
small flakes of skin, which dry up, and become extremely hard, 
and these also are pressed down upon the membrane. Often it 
is not only deafness which ensues, but pain and inflammation, 
and then matter is formed which the hard mass prevents fi'om 
escaping, and the membrane becomes permanently diseased. 

The Eustachian Tube. — The use of this tube is twofold. 
First, it supplies the drum with air, and keeps the membrane 
exactly balanced, and free to move, with equal air-pressure on 
each side ; and, secondly, it carries off any fluid which may be 
in the drum, and prevents it from being choked by its own 
moisture. It is not always open, however, but is opened during 
the act of swallowing, by a little muscle which is attached to it 
just as it reaches the throat. Most persons can distinctly feel 
that this is the case, by gently closing the nose and swalKnvinii-, 
when a distinct sensation is felt in the ears. This sensation is 
due to a little air being drawn out of the ears through the open 
tube during swallowing; and it lasts for a tow minutes, unless 
the air is again restored by swallowing with the nose unclosed, 



352 THE SPECIAL SENSES. 

which allows for the moment a free communication between the 
ear and the throat. We thus see a reason for the tube being 
closed. If it were always open, all the sounds produced in the 
throat would pass directly into the drum of the ear, and totally 
confuse us. We should hear every breath, and live in a constant 
bewilderment of internal sounds. At the same time the closure, 
being but a light contact of the walls of the tube, easily allows 
a slight escape of air from the drum, and thus not only facil- 
itates and regulates the oscillations of the air before the vibrat- 
ing membrane, but provides a safety-valve, to a certain extent, 
against the injurious influence of loud sounds. 

The chief use of the Eustachian tube is to allow a free in- 
terchange of air between the ear and the throat, and it is very 
important that its use in this respect should be understood. 
Persons who go down in diving-bells soon begin to feel a great 
pressure in the ears, and, if the depth is great, the feeling 
becomes extremely painful. This arises from the fact that in 
the diving-bell the pressure of the air is very much increased, 
in order to balance the weight of the water above ; and thus it 
presses with great force upon the membrane of the drum, which, 
if the Eustachian tube has been kept closed, has only the ordi- 
nary uncompressed air on the inner side to sustain it. It is there- 
fore forced inward and put upon the stretch, and might be even 
broken. Many cases, indeed, have occurred of injury to the ear, 
producing permanent deafness, from descents in diving-bells, 
undertaken by persons ignorant of the way in which the ear is 
made ; though the simple precaution of frequent swallowing 
suffices to ward off all mischief. For, if the Eustachian tube is 
thus opened, again and again, as the pressure of the outside air 
increases, the same compressed air that exists outside passes 
also into the inside of the drum, and the membrane is equally 
pressed upon from both sides by the air, and so is free from 
strain. The same precaution is necessary in ascending lofty 
mountains.— Dr. James Hinton. 

The Colored Curtain in the Eye (p. 238).— This ring-like 
curtain in the eye, of gray, green, bluish-green, brown, and 
other colors, is one among the very many remarkable con- 
trivances of the organic world. The eye can not bear the en- 
trance of too much light, and the colored curtain so regulates 



THE COLORED CURTAIN IN THE EYE. 606 

its own movements as to serve this requirement. The dark 
circular aperture in the center, known as the pupil, is conse- 
quently forever altering in size ; on a bright, sunshiny day, out 
in the open, it may be only the size of a pin's head, but at 
night, when there is no light stronger than starlight, it is even 
bigger than a pea. The eye curtain is fixed at its outer edge, 
leaving the inner edge to contract or expand, which it does 
automatically and quite independent of the will, ever preserving 
its circular outline. Its movements may be watched in a 
variety of ways, some of which we shall describe. 

The common way of watching the movements of the iris is 
to regard it closely in a looking-glass while the amount of light 
entering the eyes is varied. Place yourself before a looking- 
glass and with your face to the window. Probably the iris 
will be expanded, and there will only be a very small opening 
or pupil in the center. Now shut one eye suddenly, while nar- 
rowly watching the other in the glass all the time. At the 
moment the light is cut off from one eye, the iris of the other 
contracts or is drawn up so as to enlarge the pupil. This 
shows that there is a remarkable interdependence between the 
curtains of the two eyes, as well as that they are affected by 
variations in the quantity of light falling on them. 

Perhaps one of the most interesting ways of watching the 
movements of these sympathetic eye-curtains is one which may be 
followed while you are out walking on the street some dark ^^-in- 
ter night. A gas-lamp seen at a distance is, comparatively speak- 
ing, a point of light, with bars of light emanating from it in 
many directions. These bars, which give the peculiar spoked 
appearance to a star, are probably formed by optical defects of 
the lens within the eye, or by the tear fluid on the exterior 
surface of the eye, or by a combination of all these causes. Be 
that as it may, the lengths of the spokes of Hght are limited by 
the inner margin of the eye-curtain; if the curtain be drawn 
up, then the spokes are long; if the curtain bo let down, or, 
in other words, if the pupil be very small and oontraotoil. (hon 
one can not see any spokes at all. Hence, as I look at a distant 
gas-light, with its radiating golden spokes. T am looking at 
something which will give me a sure indication o\' any move- 
ments of the evo-ourtains. I strike a match and allow its lii^rlu 



354 THE SPECIAL SENSES. 

to fall into the eyes ; the spokes of the distant gas-lamp have 
retreated into the point of flame as if by magic ; as I take the 
burning match away from before my eyes, the spokes of the 
gas-lamp venture forth again. The experiment may be utilized 
to see how much hght is required to move the window-curtains 
of the eyes. Suppose you are walking toward two gas-lamps, 
A and B ; B about fifty yards behind A. If you steadfastly 
look at B and at the golden spokes apparently issuing from it, 
you may make these spokes a test of how soon the light of A 
will move your iris. As you gradually approach A, you come 
at last to a position where its light is strong enough to make 
the spokes of B begin to shorten ; a little nearer still and they 
vanish altogether. I have found that about a third of the hght 
which is competent to contract the pupil very markedly will 
serve to commence its movement. — William Ackeoyd. 

Purkinje's Figures (p. 222). — Stand in a dark room with a 
lighted candle in hand. Shutting the left, hold the candle very- 
near the right eye, within three or four inches, obliquely out- 
ward and forward, so that the light shall strongly illuminate 
the retina. Now move the light about gently, upward, down- 
ward, back and forth, while you gaze intently on the wall op- 
posite. Presently the field of view becomes dark from the in- 
tense impression of the light, and then, as you move the light 
about, there appears projected on the wall and covering its 
whole surface, a shadowy, ghost-like image, like a branching, 
leafless tree, or Uke a great bodiless spider with many branch- 
ing legs. What is it? It is an exact but enlarged image of the 
hlood-vessels of the retina. These come in at the entrance of 
the optic nerve, ramify in the middle layer, and therefore in 
the strong light cast their shadows on the bacillary layer of 
the retina. The impression of these shadows is projected outward 
into the field of view, and seen there as an enlarged shadowy 
image. These have been called Purkinje's Figures, from the 
discoverer. — Prof. Joseph Le Conte, in Sight. 



XI. 

APPENDIX 



QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE, 



The questions include the Notes and the Selected Readings. The Jig ares refer to the 

pages. 



INTRODUCTION, 



Illustrate the value of physiological knowledge. Why 
should physiology be studied in youth? When are our habits 
formed? How do habits help us? Why should children prize 
the lessons of experience ? How does Nature punish a violation 
of her laws? Name some of Nature's laws. What is the penalty 
of their violation? Name some bad habits and their punish- 
ments Some good habits and their rewards. How do the young 
ruin their health? Compare one's constitution with a deposit in 
the bank. Can one in youth lay up health as he can money for 
middle or old age? Is not the preservation of one's health a 
moral duty? What is suicide? 



THE SKELETON 



3. How many bones are there in the body? Is tho tuunber 
fixed? Is the length of the different bones proportional? What 
is an organ? A function? Name the three uses of the bonos. 
Why do the bones have such different shapes? 

4. Why are certain bones hollow ? Round? Illustrate. Com- 
pare the resisting property of bone with that of solid oak. 
What is the composition of bone? How does it vary? How 
can you remove the minora 1 matter? The animal matter? Why 
is a burned bone white and porous? AVhat food do dogs tind in 
bones ? 



358 QUESTIONS FOR GLASS USE. 

5. "What is the use of each of the constituents of a bone? 
What is "bone-black"? What is ossification? Why are not the 
bones of children as easily broken as those of aged persons? 
Why do they unite so much quicker ? What are the f ontanelles ? 

6. Describe the structure of a bone. What is the object of 
the filling? Why does the amount vary in different parts of a 
bone? What is the appearance of a bone seen through a mi- 
croscope ? 

7. What is the periosteum? Is a bone once removed ever 
restored? What are the lacunae? The Haversian canals? Why 
so called? Ans. From their discoverer, Havers. Define a. bone.* 
What occupies the lacunse? Ans. The bone-cells (osteoblasts). 
How do bones grow? 

8. Illustrate. How does a broken bone heal? How rapidly 
is bone produced? Illustrate. Objects of "splints"? Describe 
how a joint is packed. Lubricated. 

9. How are the bones tied together? What is a tissue? 
Illustrate. Name the three general divisions of the bones. 
What is the object of the skull? Which bone is movable? How 
is the lower jaw hinged? Describe the construction of the skull. 
What is a suture? 

10. Tell how the peculiar form and structure of the skull 
adapt it for its use. Illustrate the impenetrability of the skull. 

11. Describe the experiment of the balls. What does it 
show ? What two cavities are in the trunk ? Name its principal 
bones. Describe the spine. 

12. What is the object of the processes? Of the pads? 
Why is a man shorter at night than in the morning? Describe 
the perfection of the spine. 

13. Describe the articulation of the skull with the spine. 
Why is the atlas so called? 

14. Describe the ribs. What is the natural form of the 
chest? Why is it made in separate pieces? How does the ob- 
lique position of the ribs aid in respiration? (See note, p. 80.) 

15. How do the hip-bones give solidity? What two sets of 

* Bone structure may be summarized as follows : A bone is a collection 
of Haversian elements., or rods. An Haversian element consists of a tube sur- 
rounded by lamellce., whicb contain lacuna;, connected by canaliculi.—Du. T. B. 
Stowell. 



THE SKELETON. 359 

limbs branch from the trunk? State their mutual resemblance. 
Name the bones of the shoulder. Describe the collar-bone. 

16. Describe the shoulder-blade. Can you describe the in- 
direct articulation of the shoulder-blade with the trunk ? Name 
the bones of the arm. Describe the shoulder-joint. The elbow- 
joint. 

17. Describe the wrist. Name the bones of the hand. How 
many bones in the fingers? The thumb? What gives the 
thumb its freedom of motion? 

18. 19. Name and describe the fingers. In what lies the 
perfection of the hand? How do the gestures of the hand 
enforce our ideas and feelings? Describe the hip-joint. What 
gives the upper limbs more freedom of motion than the lower? 
How does the pressure of the air aid us in walking? Illustrate. 

20. Name the bones of the lower limbs. Describe the knee- 
joint. The patella. What is the use of the fibula? Can you 
show how the lower extremity of the fibula, below its juncture 
with the tibia, is prolonged to form a part of the ankle-joint? 
Name the bones of the foot. What is the use of the arch of 
the foot? What makes the step elastic? Describe the action of 
the foot as we step. 

21. In graceful walking, should the toes or the heel touch 
the ground first ? What are the causes of deformed feet ? What 
is the natural position of the big toe? Did you ever see a big 
toe lying in a straight line with the foot, as shown in statuary 
and paintings ? How should we have our boots and shoes made ? 
What are the effects of high heels? Of narrow heels? Of nar- 
row toes? Of tight-laced boots? Of thin soles? What are the 
rickets? Cause of this disease? Cure? Is there any provision 
for remedying defects in the body? Name one. 

22. 23. What is a felon? Cure? Cause of bow-legs? How 
can they be prevented? Causes of spinal curvature? Cure? 
What is the correct position in sitting at one's desk? Is there 
any necessity for walking and sitting erect? Any advantage 
aside from health? Describe the bad effects of a stooping posi- 
tion. What is a sprain? Why does it need special care? What 
is a dislocation ? How is it generally caused ? How soon should 
it be treated? 



360 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 

269, What relation does man, in his general structure, bear 
to other vertebrates? Mention some marked physical pecuhar- 
ities which distinguish him from the lower mammals. 

270, 271. Describe the state of a fracture a week after its 
occurrence. What is this new formation called? What marks 
the termination of the first stage of curative progress ? How do 
the broken ends of the bone now appear? What is the state of 
the fracture at the end of the second stage? What is the condi- 
tion of the callus at this time ? Describe the third and last series 
of changes. Is the process of union completed sooner in old 
people or in young? In the upper or lower extremities? In 
smaller animals or man ? What length of time is required to 
heal a broken arm? A broken leg? 

272. What gives the human hand its peculiar prehensile 
power? ^"hat advantage has the- human thumb over that of 
the ape? Compare the foot of man with that of the ape. 
What peculiarity of the foot is particularly noticeable in man? 
Contrast the function of the great toe in man and in the ape. 

273. Are the toes naturally flexible? How are their powers 
crippled ? Give an instance in which the toes were trained to do 
the work of the fingers. 

274. Why are an elastic step and a graceful carriage such 
rare accomplishments? What is the natural shape of the foot? 
Which is the longer, the great toe or the second toe? Is an 
even-sided symmetry necessary to the beauty of a boot? 



THE MUSCLES. 

29. What relations do the skeleton and the muscles bear to 
each other? How is the skeleton concealed? Why is it the 
image of death ? What are the muscles ? How many are there ? 
What peculiar property have they? Name other properties of 
muscles. Ans. Tonicity, elasticity. 

30. How are they arranged? AATiere is the biceps? The 
triceps? How do the muscles move the Hmbs? Illustrate. 
What is the cause of squinting? Cure? (See p. 244.) 

31. Name and define the two kinds of muscles. Illustrate 
each. What is the structure of a muscle? Of what is a fibril 



THE MUSCLES. 361 

itself composed? How does the peculiar construction of tlie 
muscle confer strength? 

32. Describe the tendons. What is their use? Illustrate the 
advantages of this mode of attachment. 

33. What two special arrangements of the tendons in the 
hand ? Their use ? How is the rotary motion of the eye ob- 
tained ? 

34. 35. What is a lever? Describe the three classes of 
levers. Illustrate each. Describe the head as a lever. What 
parts of the body illustrate the three kinds of levers? Give an 
illustration of the second class of levers. The third class. Why 
is the Tendon of Achilles so named? What is the advantage of 
the third class of levers? Why desirable in the hand? What 
class of lever is the lower jaw? 

36. What advantages are gained by the enlargement of the 
bones at the joints? Illustrate. How do we stand erect? Is it 
an involuntary act? 

37. Why can not a child walk at once, as many young 
animals do ? Why can we not hold up the head easily when 
we walk on ' ' all fours " ? Why can not an animal stand erect 
as man does? 

38. Describe the process of walking. Show that walking is 
a process of falling. Describe the process of running. What 
causes the swinging of the hand in walking? Why are we 
shorter when walking?* Why does a person when lost often 
go in a circle? In which direction does one always turn in 
that case?! 

39. What is the muscular sense? Value of educating it? 
How do we gratify it ? 

40. What effect has exercise upon a muscle? Is there any 
danger in violent exercise? For what piu'posc^ slunild wo oxer- 

* Stand a boy erect against a wall. Mark his height \vitli a stick. 
Now have him step off a part of a pace, and then several whole pares. 
Next, lot him close his eyes, and walk to the wall again, lie will be pei-- 
ceptibly lower than the stick, until he straightens up once uiore from a 
walking position. 

t Take several boys into a smooth grass lot. Set np a stick at a dis- 
tance for them to walk toward. Test the boj^s, to find which arc left- 
handed, or right-handed; \vhich left-legged or right-legged. Then blindfol.l 
the boys and let them walk, as they think, towartl the mark. Sec who 
vaiies toward tlu^ right, and who turns to the left. 



362 quj:stions for class use. 

cise? Should exercise be in the open air? What is the rule for 
exercise? Is a young person excusable, who leads a sedentary 
life, and yet takes no daily out-door exercise? What will be 
Nature's penalty for such a violation of her law? Will a post- 
ponement of the penalty show that we have escaped it? 

41. Ought a scholar to study during the time of recess? 
Will a promenade in the vitiated air of the school-room furnish 
suitable exercise? What is the best time for taking exercise? 
What class of persons can safely exercise before breakfast? 

42. What are the advantages of the different kinds of exer- 
cise ? Should we not walk more ? What is the general influence 
upon the body of vigorous exercise? 

43. State some of the wonders of the muscles. What is the 
St. Vitus' dance? Cure? 

44. What are convulsions ? What is the locked-jaw ? Causes ? 
The gout? Cause? Cure? The rheumatism? Its two forms? 
Peculiarity of the acute? 

45. Danger in acute rheumatism? In what does chronic 
rheumatism often result? Wliat is lumbago? Give instances. 
Wliat is a ganglion? Its cure? A bursa? 



275. What is meant by the origin of a muscle? The at 
tachment ? Is a muscle always extended between two contiguous 
bones? G-ive an illustration. Can the points of origin and of 
attachment change offices? Illustrate. What is an important 
consequence of the attachment of the muscles to the bones? If, 
in the limb of a dead body, one end of a muscle is separated 
from its point of attachment, what occurs? Would the result 
be the same during life? To what is this phenomenon due? 

276. Why are the muscles continually striving to shorten? 
Describe the effect when several opposing muscles are attached 
to one bone. When is the balanced position of the hmbs best 
observed ? Are the muscles always attached to bones ? Give 
example. How does the flesh of man differ from that of an 
ox? How may the structure of muscular fibers be rudely 
illustrated? Describe smooth muscle-fibers. How do they differ 
from striated muscle-fibers? 



THE MUSCLES. 363 

277. In what form do smooth muscle-fibers frequently occur ? 
In such cases, how are they usually arranged? What is the 
effect of their contraction? Of what especial use is this power 
in case of the smaller arteries? In case of the intestine? 

278. In the latter instance, how does the contraction take 
place? Are the striated muscle-fibers voluntary or involuntary? 
Name an exception to this rule. Give other peculiarities of the 
muscle-fibers of the heart. What causes the contraction of 
smooth muscle-fibers? Of striated muscle-fibers? Why do little 
children seldom injure themselves by over-exertion? How is 
the danger increased in youth? 

279. What class of people are in most peril from violent or 
excessive exercise? Why? At what age should one cease from 
haste of all kinds? Grive instances of valuable lives lost from 
personal imprudence. 

280. What are the effects of insufficient exercise upon the 
young? How does it predispose to disease? What makes the 
children of the laboring classes so hardy? Is a regulation step 
desirable in walking? Why not? Why is it more fatiguing to 
walk up-hill than on level ground ? 

281. How does the management of the breath affect this 
fatigue? How should a belt be worn, if used during exercise? 
Can other forms of exercise be successfully substituted for walk- 
ing? Why not? What is the difference in movement between 
walking' and skating? Which is the better exercise? What are 
the dangers from skating? What precaution should be used by 
those who have weak ankles ? 

282. Name the different action of the muscles in the for- 
ward and backward movements in rowing. What is the com- 
])arative value of rowing as an exercise? Why is it especially 
desirable for women? How should women dress when rowing, 
horseback-riding, tennis-playing, etc.? What rules should be 
observed by rowers? Why should the breath be allowed to 
escape while the oar is in the water? 

283. What sanitary measures should be observed after a 
row? What effect has too frequent and too prolc^nged iininer- 
sion on young swimmers? Does swimniini;- ivquiiv nuich mus- 
cular exertion ? AVhy? Why does an occasiiHial swiinmor become 
exhausted sooner than an experienced one'! On what do ease 



364 QUESTIONS FOE CLASS USE. 

and speed in swimming depend? Is the habit of diving desir- 
able? Should diving ever be practiced in shallow water? 

284. Why is lawn-tennis the most desirable of out-door 
games ? Ans. Xot only because nearly every muscle of the body 
is brought into exercise, bat because it is one of the few field 
sports in which women can gracefully join. In this it shares 
the honor with croquet. T\Tiat are the dangers attendant on 
lawn-tennis? From what do man^^ of them arise? Why should 
tennis shoes have heels? To what class of people is horseback- 
riding particularly suited? What class of invalids should not 
indulge in bicychng and tricycling? To what class is it pecul- 
iarly beneficial? 

285. What are the dangers attendant on base-ball games? 
Foot-ball ? T\Tien may light and heavy g;^mmastics be profitably 
employed? iSTame a sufficient apparatus. What are the objec- 
tions to gjTnnasium exercise? Its advantages? 



THE SKIN. 



49. What are the uses of the skin? Describe its adaptation 
to its place. What is its function as an organ? Describe the 
structure of the skin. The sensitiveness of the cutis. The in- 
sensitiveness of the cuticle. 

50. How is the skin constantly changing? The shape and 
number of the cells? Value of the cuticle? How is the cuticle 
formed? Ans. By secretion from the cutis. 

51. What is the complexion? Its cause? Why is a sc8.r 
white? What is the cause of "tanning"? What are freckles? 
Albinos? Describe the action of the sun on the skin. 

52. Why are the hairs and the nails spoken of under the 
title of the skin? Uses of the hair? Its structure? How can 
it be examined ? "XYhat is the hair-bulb ? What is it called ? 
How does a hair grow? At what rate? When can it be re- 
stored, if destroyed? Does hair grow after death? 

53. When hair has become gray, can its original color be 
naturally restored ? What is the danger of hair-dyes ? Are they 
of any real value? How can the hair stand on end? How do 
horses move their skin? Is there any feeling in a hair? 



THESKIN. 865 

54. Illustrate the indestructibility of the hair. What are the 
uses of the nails? How do the nails grow? What is the mu- 
cous membrane? 

55. Its composition? The connective tissue ? Why so called? 
What uses does it subserve? 

56. What is its character? How does the fat exist in the 
body? Its uses? State the various uses of membrane in the 
body. Where is there no fat? Where is there always fat? 

57. Why are the teeth spoken of in connection with the 
mucous membrane ? Name and describe the four kinds of teeth. 
What are the milk-teeth? Describe them. What teeth appear 
first ? 

58. Give the order and age at which they appear. When 
do the permanent teeth appear? Describe their growth. Which 
one comes first? Last? 

59. Describe the structure of the teeth. How are the teeth 
fitted in the jaw? 

60. Why do the teeth decay? What care should be taken 
of the teeth? What caution should be observed? What are the 
oil glands? / 

61. Use of this secretion? What are the perspiratory glands ? 
State their number. Their total length. What are the "pores" 
of the skin? 

62. 63. What is the perspiration? What is the constitution 
of the perspiration? Illustrate its value. Name the three uses 
of the skin. Illustrate the absorbing power of the skin. What 
precaution should be observed in handling a dead body? Why 
are cosmetics and hair-dyes injurious? What relation exists be- 
tween the skin and the lungs? What lesson does this teach? 
When is the best time for a bath? Why? 

64, 65. What is the value of friction? Why should not a 
bath be taken just before or after a meal ? Is an excess of soap 
beneficial? What is the "reaction"? Explain its invigorating 
influence. How is it secured? General effect of a. cold bath? 
Of a warm bath? If we feel chilly and depressed after a bath, 
what is the teaching? Describe the Kussian vapor bath. Why 
is the sea-bath so stimulating? 

66. How long should one remain in any bath? llow lioos 
clothing keep as warm? Explain \ho w^o o\' linen as an article 



366 QUESTIONS rOR CLASS USE. 

of clothing. Cotton. Wool. Flannel. How can we best protect 
ourselves against the changes of our climate? 

67. What colored clothing is best adapted for all seasons? 
Value of the nap? Furs? Thick vs. thin clothing? Should we 
wear thick clothing during the day, and in the evening put on 
thin clothing ? Can children endure exposure better than grown 
persons? What is the erysipelas? How relieved? 

68, 69. Eczema ? What do its various forms denote ? 
Corns? Cause? Cure? In-growing nails? Cure? Warts? Cure? 
Chilblain ? Cause ? Preventive ? 



286. Name some causes of baldness. Grive Dr. Nichols' 
opinion. Why is frequent shampooing inadvisable? One prob- 
able reason why women are less frequently bald than men? 
What is the best general treatment for the hair and scalp? 
Upon what does the color of the hair mainly depend? 

287. In cases of sudden blanching of the hair what is the 
effect upon the pigment? Q-ive an illustration. How do the 
extra air-bubbles find their way into the hair? Does air natu- 
rally exist in the hair? What relation do the nails bear to the 
scarf skin ? 

288. What causes the horny appearance of the nails? De- 
scribe the root of the nail in its relation to the sensitive and the 
scarfskin. Upon what does the nail rest? What is its appear- 
ance? What is the lunula? Why is it lighter than the rest of 
the nail? How does the nail increase in length? In thickness? 
Where is the greatest thickness? How does the growth of the 
nail during disease, compare with its growth in health? 

289. How long does it take the thumb-nail to grow from its 
root to its free extremity? The great toe? Give general rules 
for the care of the nails. How does physical cleanliness pro- 
mote moral purity? What does its neglect indicate? 

290. What especial care should be taken in regard to the 
feet? Why? Are baths a modern refinement? What can you 
say about the ancient Greek and Homan baths ? What constitutes 
the value of the Turkish bath? 

291. What class of people should never use this bath? To 



RESPIEATIOK AND THE VOICE. 367 

what class of invalids is it particularly beneficial? Is sea-bath- 
ing advisable for persons of all ages? How should an inex- 
perienced sea-bather begin ? When should the sea-bath be taken ? 

292. How long should a delicate person remain in the 
water? State the danger of bathing when overheated. Under 
what conditions of body and of temperature should sea or river 
bathing be avoided? Why? Give illustration of the English 
soldier. How should the temperature of the water, in bathing, 
compare with that of the air? Of the body? 

293. Describe the bathers' cramp. What are its causes? 
What precaution should be used by bathers in regard to the 
mouth and ears? Why? 

294. How can a person who does not know how to swim, 
save himself from drowning? 

295. What are the advantages of woolen clothing? Why is 
it particularly desirable in malarial countries? What double 
purpose does woolen clothing serve in semi-tropical climates? 

296. Does the warmth of clothing depend on its weight? 
What errors are often made and with what effect? State what 
is said in regard to poisonous dyes in wearing apparel. Give 
illustration. 

297. What effect has uncleanly attire on the health? Does 
this apply to outer as well as under garments? 



RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE. 

73. Name the organs of respiration and the voice. Describe 
the larynx. The epiglottis. The tBsophagus. AVhat is meant 
by food "going the wrong way"? 

74. Describe the vocal cords. Tlieir use. How is sound 
produced ? 

75. How are the higher tones of the voice produced? The 
lower? Upon what does loudness depend? A falsetto voice? 
What is the cause of the voice "changing"? What is speech? 
Is the tongue necessary to speech? IlUistrato. (See also page 
298.) 

7(). What is vocalization? How nrt^ talkinu--nKU'hinos made? 



368 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 

77. How is a formed by the voice? What is hf Difference 
between a sigli and a groan? What vowel sounds are made in 
laughing? Does whistling depend on the voice? Tell how the 
various consonants are formed. What are the labials? The den- 
tals? The Unguals? What vowels does a child pronounce first? 

78. Describe the wind-pipe. The bronchi. The bronchial 
tubes. ^Vhy is the trachea so called? Describe the structure of 
the lungs. What are the lungs of slaughtered animals called? 
Why will a jDiece of the kings float on water? 

79. Xame the wrappings of the lungs. Describe the pleura. 
How is friction prevented? What are the cilia? Their use? 

80. What two acts constitute respiration? In what two 
ways may the position of the ribs change the capacity of the 
chest? Describe the process of inspiration. Describe the dia- 
phragm. 

81. What is the process of expiration? How often do we 
breathe? What is sighing? Coughing? Sneezing? Snoring? 
Laughing ? Crying ? 

82. Describe hiccough. Yawning. Its value? What is 
meant by the breathing capacity? How does it vary? How 
much, in addition, can the lungs expel forcibly? How much of 
the breathing capacity is available only through practice? 
Value of this extra supply? Can we expel all the air from our 
lungs? Value of this constant supply? 

83. How constant is the need of air? What is the vital 
element of the air? Describe the action of the oxygen in our 
lungs. What does the blood give up? Cain? What are the 
constituents of the air? What are the peculiar properties and 
uses of each? 

84. How can we test the air we exhale? What does its 
analysis reveal? Which is the most dangerous constituent? 
What occurs when we rebreathe exhaled air ? 

85. Describe its evil effects. What is denoted by ihe " Black 
Hole of Calcutta"? Give other illustrations of the dangers of 
bad air. Describe the need of ventilation. Will a single breath 
pollute the air? 

86-95. How can we detect the floating impurities in the air? 
What is the influence of a fire or a light? Of a hot stove? 
When is the ventilation perfect? What diseases are largely 



RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE. 369 

Owing to bad air? Should the windows and doors be tightly 
closed, if we have no other means of ventilation? Is not a 
draught of air dangerous? How can we prevent this, and yet 
secure fresh air? What is the general principle of ventilation? 
Must pure air necessarily be cold air? Are school-rooms always 
properly ventilated? What is the effect? Are churches? Are 
our bedrooms? Should children or delicate people sleep in cold 
rooms? Can we, at night, breathe any thing but night air? Is 
the night air out-of-doors ever injurious? Ans. In times, and 
places of malaria, and also in very damp weather, it should 
be avoided, even at the risk of bad air in-doors. Describe some 
of the wonders of respiration. 

96. How is constriction of the lungs produced? When may 
clothing be considered tight? What are the dangers of tight- 
lacing? Which would make the stronger, more vigorous, and 
longer-lived person, the form shown in A or B, Fig. 33? Is it 
safe to run any risk in this dangerous direction? 

97. What is Bronchitis? Pleurisy? Pneumonia? Consump- 
tion? What is one great cause of Consumption? How^ may a 
constitutional tendency to this disease be warded off in 3^outh? 
Ans. Besides plenty of fresh air and exercise, care should 
be taken in the diet. Rich pastry, unripe fruit, salted ineat, 
and acid drinks should be avoided, and a certain quantity 
of fat should be eaten at each meal. — Bennett. What is 
asphyxia? Describe the process for restoring such a person. 
(See p. 264.) 

98. Wliat is diphtheria? Its peculiarities? Danger? The 
croup? Its characteristics? Remedy? (See p. 260.) Causes of 
stammering? How cured? 



297. How does the singing voice differ from the speaking 
voice? How can you prove the effect of duration of sound in 
speaking and singing? How do the intonations of the voice 
affect the meaning of words? 

298. Give illustrations of speech in persons witlioui a tongue. 
What is the effect of alcohol and tobacco on the throat? Do 
th(\v have an inlhience on the voice? Dot^s the excessive use of 



370 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 

tea and coffee ever affect the voice? How? To what is the 
hoarse tone of an inebriate due? 

299, 300. What was Adelina Patti's advice with regard to 
stimulants and late hours? Does the respiration of woman 
differ from that of man ? Grive experiments with Indian women. 
What lessons do we draw from these facts? What rule should 
be observed in regard to the size of a bodice ? What are bacteria 
or microbes? How is their existence revealed? What does the 
Germ Theory of Disease teach in regard to microbes? 

301. What can you say about the microbe of putrefaction? 
How can you obtain it for examination? What office in Nature 
do bacteria seem to serve? G-ive the theory in regard to prop- 
agation of special disease germs. Do they always cause disease 
when taken into the body?* 

302. State some conditions which favor the growth of dis- 
ease-germs. Which prevent or retard their growth. Relate the 
effect of vaccination, according to the germ theory. 

303. 304. If a drop of an infusion charged with bacteria be 
put in the extract of beef or mutton, what is the result? What 
would be the effect upon an open wound? G-ive Dr. Tyndall's 
personal experience. Name some efficient antidote against the 
bacteria of putrefaction. Ans. Carbolic acid solution is exten- 
sively used for this purpose. How are disease germs often dis- 
seminated? State the necessity of disinfection in regard to 
soiled clothing. 

305. Illustrate how disease has been communicated by cloth- 
ing. What is the first necessary condition to a sanitary home? 
What is the meaning of the word malaria? What are three 
active agents in the production of malaria ? A fourth ? De- 

* Of tlie immense number and variety of micro-organisms found in 
Nature, only very few are disease-producing. Dr. Austin Flint says in 
The Forum^ for December, 1888 : "It is probable that future investigations 
into the physiology of digestion, will show that bacteria play an important 
part in this function. Pasteur has recently isolated no less than seventeen 
different micro-organisms in the mouth, which were not destroyed by the 
gastric juice. Some of these dissolved albumen, gluten, and caseine, and 
some transformed starch into sugar. Bacteria normally exist in great 
number and variety in the intestines, although the part which they take 
in intestinal digestion has not been accurately determined." — The nujnber of 
spores introduced into the human system by respiration, when the health 
is perfectly sound, has been estimated at three hundred thousand a day. 



RESPIRATION AND THE VOICE. 371 

scribe a typical malarious locality. How does newly-broken 
ground induce malaria ? 

306. State the different ways in which running water can 
be contaminated. What care should be taken in regard to the 
level of building site? 

307. Give some of the results of a wet foundation. What 
rules should be observed in regard to shade ? What is the effect 
of too dense foliage about a dwelling? In building a house, 
what precautions should be taken against dampness? What 
about the cellar? Sewerage? Plumbing? Ventilation? Fire- 
places? Piazzas and balconies? Sleeping-rooms? 

308. What general purpose does a house serve? What care 
should be taken in regard to the dust or ash heap ? What is the 
effect if liquids or table refuse be thrown upon it ? Where should 
it be situated ? How often should refuse be carted away ? If its 
frequent removal be inexpedient, what precaution should be 
used? What are the best of all deodorizers? How should the 
back premises be cared for? What is the best way to dispose 
of household garbage? 

309. How can this be done? With what additional advan- 
tage ? Give Dr. Derby's remarks in regard to sewers, their 
condition, and the results. How should traps and drains be 
cared for? How should bad smells be treated? Is a foul smell 
always the most dangerous? How do poisonous gases often 
find entrance to a house? What rule should be observed in 
regard to ventilating and soil pipes? 

310. What precautions should be observed in digging about 
a dwelling? How do waste-pipes often become closed? How 
may they be Cleared? What dangers arise from unventilated 
waste-pipes? How are wash-basin pipes contaminated? Tell 
what came from a neighbor's cess-pool. Can you name similar 
instances which have come under your own observation? 

311. 312. Describe the condition and effects of a neglected 
cellar. Tell what came from a crack in a cellar wall. 

313. What effect have brick and mortar in keeping out 
gases? How do bed-coverings take the place of day garments? 
What kind of bed-covering is desirabk^? Is a comfortable bed 
necessary to perfect health? How often and for how long time 
should a bed be ventilated? 



372 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 



THE CIRCULATION. 

105. Name the organs of the circulation. Does the blood 
permeate all parts of the body? What is the average amount 
in each person? Its composition? The plasma? The red cor- 
puscles? The white? 

106. What is the size of a red cell? Are the shape and size 
uniform? Value of this? Illustrate. Are the disks permanent ? 
What substances are contained in the plasma ? What is fibrin ? 

107. In what sense is the blood "liquid flesh"? What is 
the use of the red disks? What is the office of the oxygen in 
the body? Where is the blood purified? 

108. What is transfusion? Is it of value? 

109. Grive some illustrations. What is the cause of coagu- 
lation of the blood? Value of this property? Has the fibrin 
any other use? 

110. What organ propels the blood? What is the location 
of the heart? How large is it? Put your hand over it. What 
is the pericardium? Describe the systole. 

111. The diastole. How many chambers in the heart? 
What is their average size? What is meant by the right and 
left heart? What are the auricles? Why so called? The ven- 
tricles ? 

112. What is the use of the auricles? The ventricles? 
Which are made the stronger? Show the need of valves in the 
ventricles. Why are there no valves in the auricles? Draw on 
the board the form of the valves. Name them. 

113. Describe the tricuspid valve. The bicuspid. How are 
these valves strengthened? 

114. What peculiarity in the attachment of these cords? 
Describe the semi-lunar valves. What are the arteries ? Why so 
named? What is their use? Their structure? How does their 
elasticity act? What is meant by a "collateral circulation"? 

115. How are the arteries protected? Where are they lo- 
cated ? Give a general description of the arterial system. What 
is the aorta? What is the pulse? On which arteries can we 
best feel it? What is the average number of beats per minute? 
How and why does this vary? 



THE CIRCULATION. 373 

116. Why does a physician feel a patient's pulse? What are 
the veins? What blood do they carry? Describe the venous 
system. What vein does not lead toward the heart? Describe 
the valves of the veins. What valves of the heart do they re- 
semble? What are varicose veins? 

117. Where and how can we see the operation of these 
valves ? What are the capillaries ? What is the function of the 
capillaries?* What changes take place in this system? 

118. Describe the circulation of the blood as seen in the 
web of a frog's foot. 

119. Who discovered the circulation of the blood? How was 
the discovery received ? What remark did Harvey make ? What 
does that show? Name the two divisions of the circulation. 
Describe the route of the blood by the diagram. 1. The lesser 
circulation. 2. The greater circulation. 

120. What is the velocity of the blood? How long does it 
require for all the blood to pass through the heart? How long 
does it take the blood to make the tour of the body? What 
is the average temperature of the body? How much does this 
vary in health? Ans. Not more than 2°, even in the greatest 
extremes of temperature.— Flint. 

121. How and where is the heat of the body generated? 
How is it distributed? In what diseases is the variation of 
temperature marked? How is the temperature of the body 
regulated ? 

122. In what way does life exist through death? Is not this 
as true in the moral as in the physical world? What does it 
teach ? How rapidly do our bodies change ? What are the three 
vital organs? 

123. Name some of the wonders of the heart. 

124-126. What is the lymphatic circulation? What is the 
thoracic duct? The lymph? The glands? What is the otfice of 
the lymphatics ? What are thelacteals? Give some illustrations 
of the action of the lymphatics of the ditferiMit lu-gans. Should 

* The distinctive function of the capillaries is to oll'er peripheral ivsist- 
ance to the circnlation of the blood. This insures "hlood pressure," a con- 
dition indispensable to the " heart -beat,'" and also eanses leaka.tre (transuda- 
tion). This leakage brintxs the nntrinient in contact with the tissne cells, 
whereby they are renewed. In the same way the air passes from the l>lood 
to the cells. 



374 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 

we use care in s-^lecting wall-paper? What is meant by the 
sub-cutaneous insertion of morphine? How do hibernating 
animals live during the winter? Whac is a congestion? Its 
cause ? 

127. "What is blushing? "Why does terror cause one to grow- 
cold and pale ? How is an inflammation caused ? Name its four 
characteristics. 

128. How may severe bleeding be stopped? How can you 
tell whether the blood comes from an artery or a vein ? Why 
should you know this? What is the scrofula? What are "ker- 
nels " ? 

129. 130. How may a scrofulous tendency of the system be 
counteracted ? What kinds of food stimulate this disease ? What 
is the cause of a "cold"? Why does exposure sometimes cause 
a cold in the head, sometimes on the lungs, and at others bring 
on a rheumatic attack? Why is a cold dangerous? Ans. It 
weakens the system and paves the way for other diseases. What 
is the theory of treating a cold ? Describe the method. What is 
catarrh ? Cause ? 

131, 132. How is alcohol produced? Is alcohol present in 
domestic wines and home-brewed ales? Are they, then, harm- 
less drinks? What is a ferment? (See also pp. 300, 301.) What 
is the difference between ferments, bacteria, microbes, and 
fungi ? Jifis. A few investigators still look upon the micro-or- 
ganisms know^n as bacteria and microbes as animal existences, 
but the larger part now concede them to be vegetable. 

133. What is the effect of fermentation? What can you say 
concerning yeast? 

134. Explain the process of making beer. Wine. What is 
distillation ? 

135. 136. Is there more than one kind of alcohol? What 
can you say of methyl alcohol? Amyl? Ethyl? Which is the 
ordinary alcohol of commerce? What is the peculiar effect of 
fusel oil? Is it often found in wines and spirits? Has alcohol 
any beneficial properties? 

137, 138. Describe one of the striking effects of alcohol. 
Wliat is the effect of alcohol on plant and animal life? 

139, 140. What is the difference between the alcohol present 
in beer and cider, and that in gin and whiskey? Name another 



DIGESTION AND FOOD. 375 

dangerous effect of alcoholic drinks. What business considera- 
tion should deter young men from liquor-drinking? 

141-143. Illustrate the general effect of alcohol upon the 
circulation. Upon the heart. Is alcohol a stimulant or a nar- 
cotic? Describe how alcohol becomes the " G-enius of Degener- 
ation." Explain what is meant by "Vascular Enlargement." 

144, 145. Describe the effect of alcohol upon the mem- 
branes. Upon the blood. Does it render the blood thin or 
heavy? What is the difference between pure and alcoholized 
blood? 

145-147. Describe the effect of alcohol upon the lungs. 
What form of consumption does it induce? Are liquor-drinkers 
more or less liable to epidemic diseases? 



314. How does the pulse felt by the finger correspond with 
the beat of the heart? Name some agencies that influence the 
pulse-beat? Which part of the body has the most varied form 
of pulsation? 

315. Compare the pulses of the wrist and brain in the 
sleeping and the waking states. How do catarrhal colds gener- 
ally arise? How are they best cured? 

316. What is said of the vitality of catarrh germs? What 
is a popular fallacy with regard to the care of sick-rooms? 
Give Dr. Austin Flint's remarks in this connection. 



DIGESTION AND FOOD. 

151. Why do we need food? Why will a person starve 
without food? Are the current stories of people who live with- 
out food to be relied upon? How much food is needed per day 
by an adult in active exercise? 

152. How much in a year? How does this anunuit vary? 
Describe the body as a mold. As an oddy. What tioes i'ood do 
for us? What does food contain? 

153. How is this force set free? What force is tliis? How 



376 QUESTIONS FOK CLASS USE. 

can it be turned into muscular motion, mental Adgor, etc.? Do 
we then draw all our power from nature? What becomes of 
these forces when we are done with them? Do we destroy the 
force we use? Ans. No matter has been destroyed, so far as 
we know, since the creation, and force is equally indestruc- 
tible. Compare our food to a tense spring. 

154. What three kinds of food do we need? What is nitrog- 
enous food? Name the common forms. What is the charac- 
teristic of nitrogenous food? Why called albuminous? What is 
carbonaceous food? Its two kinds? Constituents of sugar? 
Where are starch and gum ranked? Why? Use of carbona- 
ceous food? What becomes of this heat? Composition of fat? 
How does fat compare with sugar in producing heat? 

155. Name the other uses of carbonaceous food. From 
what kind of food does the body derive the greatest strength? 
Name the mineral matters which should be contained in our 
food. What can you say of the abundance and necessity of 
water? Ought we not to exercise great care in selecting the 
water we drink?* Does the character of our food influence the 
quantity of water we need? 

156. What are the uses of the different minerals contained 
in food? Illustrate the importance of salt. Could a person live 
on one kind of food alone? Illustrate. 

157. Describe the effect of living on lean meat. Show the 
necessity of a mixed diet. Illustrate. Show the need of diges- 
tion. Illustrate. 

158. What is assimilation? Describe the general plan of 
digestion. What did Berzelius call digestion? Why? What 
amount of liquid is daily secreted by the alimentary canal? 
What is the alimentary canal ? How is it lined ? How does the 
ameeba digest its food? 

159. The hydra? Define secretion. Describe the saliva. 
How is it secreted? What is the amount? Its organic prin- 
ciple ? Its use ? How soon does it act ? How long ? What tends 
to check or increase the flow of saliva? 

* Water which, has passed through lead-pipes is apt to contain salts of 
that metal, and is therefore open to suspicion. Metallic-lined ice-pitchers, 
galvanized-iron reservoirs, and many soda-water fountains, are liable to 
the same objection (See pp. 317, 318.) 



DIGESTION AND FOOD. 377 

160. Describe the process of swallowing. The stomach. Its 
size. Its construction. "What is the peristaltic movement? 

162. What is the pylorus? For what does this open? What 
is the gastric juice? How abundant is it? To what is its acidity- 
due? What organic principle does it contain? How is pepsin 
prepared? How is the flow of gastric juice influenced? 

163. What is its use? Appearance of the food as it passes 
through the pylorus? Why is not the stomach itself digested? 
What is the construction of the intestines? How are the intes- 
tines divided? What is the duodenum? Why so called? What 
juices are secreted here? 

164. What is the bile? Describe the liver. What is its 
weight? Its construction? Ans. It consists of a mass of poly- 
hedral cells only j^^ to ^wo^ of ^^ inch in diameter, filling a mesh 
of capillaries. The capillaries carry the blood to and fro, and 
the cells secrete the bile. What is the cyst? What does the 
liver secrete from the blood besides the bile? Is the bile neces- 
sary to life? Illustrate. What is its use? 

165. What is the pancreatic juice? Its organic principle? 
Its use? Appearance of the food when it leaves the duodenum ? 
Describe the small intestine. What is absorption ? In what two 
ways is the food absorbed? 

166. Where does the process commence? How long does it 
last? Describe the lacteals. Of what general system do they 
form a part ? What do the veins absorb ? Where do they carry 
the food? How is it modified? 

167. What is glycogen? Describe the complexity of the 
process of digestion. What length of time is required for diges- 
tion in the stomach? 

168. May not food which requires little time in the stomach 
need more in the other organs, and vice versa ? Tell the story 
of Alexis St. Martin. What time was required to digest an 
ordinary meal? Apples? Eggs, raw and cooked? Eoast beef? 
Pork? Which is the king of the meats? What is the nutritive 
value of mutton? Lamb? How should it be cooked? Objection 
to pork? What is the trichina? 

169. Should ham ever be eaten raw? Value of tisli? Oys- 
ters? Milk? Cheese? Eggs? Bread? Brown broad? Are 
warm biscuit and bread healthful? Nutritive value of corn? 



378 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 

170. Of the potato? Of ripe fruits? Of coffee? To what is 
its stimulating property due? Its influence on the system? 
When should it be discarded? Should children use any stimu- 
lants ? 

171. Effects of tea? Influence of strong tea? What is the 
active principle of tea? Nutritive value of chocolate? What is 
its active principle? Story of Linnseus? How should tea be 
made? What is the effect of cooking food? What precaution 
in boiling meat ? In roasting? Object of this high temperature? 
What precaution in making soup? Why is frying an unhealth- 
ful mode of cooking? 

172. State the five evil results of rapid eating. What dis- 
ease grows out of it ? If one is compelled to eat a meal rapidly, 
as at a railroad station, what should he take? Why? Why 
does a child need more food proportionately than an old person ? 
State the relation of waste to repair in youth, in middle, and in 
old age. What kind and quantity of food does a sedentary 
occupation require? What caution should students who have 
been accustomed to manual labor observe? Must a student 
starve himself? 

173. Is there not danger of overeating? Would not an 
occasional abstinence from a meal be beneficial? Do not most 
people eat more than is for their good ? How should the season 
regulate our diet? The chmate? Illustrate. What does a nat- 
ural appetite indicate? How are we to judge between a natural 
and an artificial longing? What does the craving of childhood 
for sugar indicate ? * 

174. What is the effect upon the circulation of taking food? 
Should we labor or study just before or after a meal? Why 
not ? What time should intervene between our meals ? Is 
"lunching" a healthful practice? Eating heartily just before 

* It does not foUow from this, however, that the free use of sugar in 
its separate form is desirable. The ordinary articles of vegetable food con- 
tain sugar (or starch, which in the body is converted into sugar), in large 
proportion ; and there is good reason to believe that in its naturally-com- 
bined form it is both more easily digested, and more available for the pur- 
poses of nutrition, than when crystallized. The ordinary sugar of com- 
merce, moreover, derived from the sugar-cane, is not capable of being 
directly applied to physiological purposes. Cane-sugar is converted within 
the body into another land of sugar, identical with that derived from the 
grape, before it can enter into the circuit of the vital changes. 



DIGESTION AND FOOD. 379 

retiring? Is it never wise to eat at this time? (See p. 337.) 
Why should care be banished from the table? Will a regular 
routine of food be beneficial? 

175, 176. Describe some of the wonders of digestion. What 
are the principal causes of dyspepsia ? How may we avoid that 
disease ? 

177. What are the mum.ps? What care should be taken? Is 
alcohol a food ? Illustrate. 

178-187. Compare the action of alcohol with that of water. 
Is the alcohol taken into the stomach eliminated unchanged? 
Does alcohol contain any element needed by the body ? What is 
the effect of alcohol upon the digestion? Will pepsin act in 
the presence of alcohol? What is the effect of alcohol upon the 
liver ? What is ' ' Fatty Degeneration " ? What is the effect of 
alcohol upon the kidneys? Does alcohol impart heat to the 
body? Does it confer strength? What does Dr. Kane say? 
Describe Richardson's experiments. Tell what peculiar influence 
alcohol exerts. What is alcoholism? What is heredity? 



317. What characteristics should good drinking-water pos- 
sess? Are these always proof of its purity? Will filters remove 
all danger of contamination ? How may a river infect the entire 
population of a town? State how well-water may become a 
dangerous drink. 

318. Relate how cases of fever have been caused by care- 
lessness in dairies. How should suspected water be treated? 
Describe a convenient portable filter. Tell how water is affected 
by foul air. 

319. Tell how ice may breed disease. What caution should 
be observed in engaging ice for our summer supply? Ilhistraio 
the structure of the glandular coat of the stomach. 

320. What is the office of the cells? Describe the life-history 
of a cell. How docs the stomach weep, and whcit is the char- 
acter of its tears? 

321. What is tyrotoxicon? Give Dr. Vaughan's experiments 
with cheese, milk, and ice-cream. Tell how nnlk may bo poi- 
soned. 



380 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 

322. Compare the vigor of exclusively fish-eating with flesh- 
eating people. What is the peculiar value of fish as a diet? To 
what class of people is it best suited? Name examples. Describe 
the principles contained in coffee. What is the effect of caff eone ? 
Of caffeine? G-ive some of the specific effects of coffee. How 
does tea differ from coffee? Describe the injurious effects of 
excessive tea-drinking. 

324. Compare theine and cocaine. Should children drink 
tea and coffee? 

325. Give some causes of indigestion. Why are nervous 
people prone to dyspepsia? Give the comparative digestibility 
of various meats. 

326. Describe how our food sustains our bodies. Illustrate 
the energy contained in one gramme of beef-fat. Why is there 
danger in a, "high-pressure" style of living? Illustrate. 

327. State the effects of gluttony. Why is it unkindness to 
indulge inordinate appetites in children? What should be the 
rule in regard to their food? What effects would follow its 
observance ? 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

191. What are the organs of the nervous system? What is 
the general use of this system ? How does it distinguish animals 
from plants? What are the vegetative functions? What is the 
gray matter? Its use? The white matter? Its use? 

193. Describe the brain. What is its office? Its size? How 
does it vary? Illustrate. Name its two divisions. 

194, 195. Describe the cerebrum. The convolutions. The 
membranes which bind the brain together. What can you say 
of the quantity of blood which goes to the brain? What does 
it show? What do the convolutions indicate? What is the 
use of the two halves of the brain? What theories have been 
advanced concerning it? Is every injury to the brain fatal? 
Illustrate. Compare the human brain with the brains of some 
animals. 

196. What is the effect of removing the cerebrum? Describe 
the cerebellum. What is the arbor vitaB? What does this part 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 881 

of the brain control? What are the pecuhar functions of the 
cerebellum? G-ive Dr. Bastian's remarks. 

197. What is the effect of an injury to the cerebellum? 
Describe the spinal cord. What is the medulla oblongata? 
Describe the nerves. Is each part of the body supplied with its 
own nerve? Prove it. 

198. What are the motory nerves? The sensory? When 
will motion be lost and feeling remain, and vice versa? What 
is meant by a transfer of pain? Illustrate. 

199. Name the three classes of nerves. What are the spinal 
nerves? Describe the origin of the spinal nerve. 

199-201. What are the cranial nerves? How many pairs 
are there? Describe them. 

201, 202. Describe the sympathetic system. What is its 
use? How does the brain control all the vital processes? What 
is meant by the crossing of the cords? What is the effect? 
What exception in the seventh pair of cranial nerves? 

203, 204. What is reflex action? Give illustrations. G-ive 
instances of the unconscious action of the brain.* Can there be 
feeling or motion in the lower limbs when the spinal cord is 
destroyed? What does the story told by Dr. John Hunter 
show? Give illustrations of the independent action of the spinal 
cord in animals. What are the uses of reflex action? 



* The cerebellum has its unconscious action in the processes of respira- 
tion and in the involuntary movements which are made in response to the 
senses, as in winking, starting back at a sound, etc. The cerebrum acts 
automatically in cases familiar to all. A large part of our mental activity 
consists of this unconscious brain-work. There are many cases in which tlie 
mind has obviously reasoned more clearly and more successfully in this 
automatic condition, when left entirely to itself, than when wo have been 
cudgeling our brains, so to speak, to get the solution. Oliver Wendell 
Holmes has aptly expressed this fact. "We wish," he says, "to remember 
something in the coui'se of conversation. No effort of the will can reaoli 
it ; but we say, ' Wait a minute, and it %\all come to me,' and we go on tidk- 
ing. Some minutes later, the idea we are in search of comes all at once 
into the mind, delivered like a pi'e-paid parcel, or like a foundling in a 
basket, laid at the door of consciousness. How it came there, we know not. 
The mind must have been at work, groping and feeling for it in the dark ; 
it can not have come of itself. Yet, all the while, om- consciousness, fV/ar 
as we are c'Oufirloi/,< of our coiiscioKsiuifs, was busy with other thoughts." 

Some interesting pei-sonal experiences uinm this point arc given in :>n 
article entitled "The Antechamber of Consciousness," by Francis Speir. Jr., 
in the Popular Science Monthly for March, 1888. 



882 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 

205. State its value in the formation of habits. How does 
the brain grow? What laws govern it? What must be the ef- 
fect of constant light-reading? Of over-study or mental labor? 

206. State the relation of sleep to repair and waste. How 
many hours does each person need? What kind of work re- 
quires most sleep? 

206-208. ^ATiat is the influence of sunlight on the body? 
Illustrate. Name some of the wonders of the brain. 

208-213. What four stages are there in the effect of alcohol 
on the nervous system? Describe each. Does alcohol confer 
any permanent strength? What is the phj^siological effect of 
alcohol on the brain? On the mental and moral powers? What 
is the Delirium Tremens? Should a man be punished for a 
crime he commits while drunk? 

214-218. What are the principal constituents of tobacco? 
What are its phj^siological effects? Who are most likely to 
escape injury? Is tobacco a food? What is its influence upon 
youth? Why are cigarettes specially injurious? What effect 
does tobacco have on the sensibilities? Name illustrations of 
the injurious effect of tobacco on young men. 

219-221. How is opium obtained? What is its physiological 
effect? Which form of using it is most injurious? Can one give 
up the use of opium when he pleases? How do people some- 
times take opium without knowing it? 

221. What is the harmful influence of chloral hydrate? 
Describe its different physiological effects. 

222. Compare its influence with that of alcohol. How is 
chloroform obtained ? Does its use require great caution ? Illus- 
trate its effects. 

223. 224. What is cocaine? What is its value? Its phj^sio- 
logical effect? Its dangers? 



331-333. What is the effect of extreme anger? Give the 
physiological explanation of this deterioration. What two or- 
gans particularly suffer? Illustrate. To what cause are many 
suicides referable? How can one secure a calm and tranquil 
life? What is the effect of forcing the brain in childhood? 

334. Illustrate. How should a child be taught? 



THE SPECIAL SENSES. B8B 

334, 335. "Why should we not exhaust our energies to the 
last degree? What warnings does Nature give us? Do stimu- 
lants supply force? What is the effect of mental exhaustion? 
Which is the most common, overwork or worry? Most danger- 
ous? What is worry? Its effect? What other causes often 
induce insanity? 

336-338. State some curiosities of sleep. Some conditions 
necessary to sound and healthful slumber. How may we ac- 
quire the habit of early rising? 

338, 339. Grive some of the results of dungeon life. 

339-347. What can you say of the growth and power of 
poison habits? Illustrate. How does physiological ignorance 
often cause intemperance ? What is the usual result of a stimu- 
lant habit? In what virtue lies the peril of narcotics? Balance 
the good and the evil in their use. Illustrate how death often 
results from chloroform and chloral. What common result is 
worse than death? Compare the demoralization in the cases of 
the opium-user and the alcohol-drinker. What principle of 
heredity attaches to the use of opium ? Give instances of deaths 
from tobacco, opium, etc. What can you say of cigarette-smok- 
ing? Chloral hydrate? The bromides? Absinthe? Hasheesh? 



THE SPECIAL SENSES. 

229, 230. What is a sense ? Name the five senses. To what 
organ do all the senses minister? If the nerve leading to any 
organ of sense be cut, what would be the effect?* Sometimes 
persons lose feeling in a limb, but retain motion ; why is this ? 
What is the sense of touch sometimes called ? Describe the 
organ of touch. What are the papillae? Where are they most 
abundant?! What are the uses of this sense? What special 

* Each organ is adapted to receive a peculiar kind of iniprossiou. 
Hence we can not smell with the eyes nor see with the nose. Thus, if the 
nerve communicating between the brain and any organ be desti\>yed, that 
means of knowledge is cut off. 

t If we apply the points of a compass blunted with cork to different 
parts of the body, we can distinguish the tw(> points at one tweiity-fourth 
of an inch apart on the tongue, one sixteenth of an ii\ch on the lii>s, one 



S84 QUESTION'S FOR CLASS USE. 

knowledge do we obtain by it? Why do we always desire to 
handle any curious object? Can the sense of touch always be 
relied upon ? Illustrate. What is the tactus eruditus f Tell how 
one sense can take the place of another. G-ive illustrations of 
the delicacy of touch possessed by the blind. 

230-232. Describe the sense of taste. How can you see the 
papillae of taste? What causes the velvety look of the tongue? 
Why do salt and bitter flavors induce vomiting? Why does an 
acid "pucker" the face? What substances are tasteless? Illus- 
trate. Has sulphur any taste ? Chalk ? Sa.nd ? What is the use 
of this sense? Does it not also add to the pleasures of life? 
Why are the acts of eating, drinking, etc., thus made sources 
of happiness? 

232, 233. Describe the organ of smell. State the intimate 
relation which exists between the senses of smell and taste. 
Name some common mistakes which occur in consequence. 
Must the object to be smelled touch the nose? What is the 
theory of smell? How do you account for the statement made 
in the note concerning musk and ambergris? What are the 
uses of this sense? Are agreeable odors healthful, and disagree- 
able ones unhealthful? 

234-236. Describe the organ of hearing. Describe the ex- 
ternal ear. What is the tympanum or drum of the ear? De- 
scribe the middle ear. Name the bones of the ear. Describe 
their structure. Describe the internal ear. By what other name 
is it known? What substances float in the liquid which fills the 
labyrinth? What is their use? Describe the fibers of Corti. 
What do they form? Use of this microscopic harp? Give the 
theory of sound. Where is the sound, in the external object or 
in the mind ? Can there be any sound, then, where there is no 
mind? What advice is given concerning the care of the ear? 
How can insects be removed? Which sense would you rather 
lose, hearing or sight? Does not a blind person always excite 
more sympathy than a deaf one? How does the sight assist 
the hearing?* 

twelfth of an incli on the tips of the fingers, and one half inch on the 
great toe ; while, if they are one inch on the cheek, and two inches on the 
back, they will scarcely produce a separate sensation.— Huxley. 

* In liearing^ the attention is more or less characteristic. If we wish to 



T'ilE SPECIAL SEN^SES. 886 

§36, 237. Describe the eye. jSTame the three coats of which 
it is composed. Is it a perfect sphere? Ans. The cornea pro- 
jects in front, and the optic nerve at the back sticks out hke a 
handle, while the ball itself has its longest diameter from side 
to side. How is the interior divided? Object of the crystalline 
lens? How is the crystalline lens kept in place? Describe the 
liquids which fill the eye. 

238. What is the pupil? Describe the eyelids. Why is the 
inner side of the eyelid so sensitive? What is the cause of a 
black eye? Use of the eyelashes? Where are the oil glands 
located? What is their use? Describe the lachrymal gland. 
The lachrymal lake. What causes the overflow in old age? 

239. Explain the structure of the retina. Use of the rods 
and cones. What is the blind spot? 

240. Illustrate. What is the theory of sight? Illustrate. 

241. 242. State the action of the crystalline lens. Its power 
of adaptation. Do children ever need spectacles? 

243. What is the cataract? How cured? What is color- 
blindness? Illustrate. What care should be taken of the eyes? 
Should one constantly lean forward over his book or work? 
What special care should near-sighted children take ? By what 
carelessness may we impair our sight? 

244. How is squinting caused? Cured? What care should 
be used after an illness? Should we ever read or write at twi- 
light? Danger of reading upon the cars? What course should 
we take when objects get into the eye ? How may thej' be re- 
moved ? 

245. Are "eye-stones" useful? Why should we never use 

distinguish a distant noise, or perceive a sound, the head inclines anil 
turns in such a manner as to present the external ear in the direction of 
the sound, at the same time the eyes are fixed and partially closed. The 
movement of the lips of his interlocutor is the usual means by which the 
deaf man supplies the want of hearing; the eyes and the entire head, 
from its position, having a peculiar and painful expression of attention. 
In looking at the portrait of La Condamine, it was easily recognized as 
that of a deaf person. Even when hearing is perfect, the eyes act some- 
times as auxiliaries to it. In order to undoi-stand an oi'ator perfectly, it 
seems necessary to see him— the gestures and the expression of the face 
seeming to add to the clearness of the woi-ds. The lesson of a teacher can 
not be well understood if any obstacle is interposed between him and the 
eyes of the listening pupil. So that if a pupil's eyes wander, we know that 
he is not attetitive.— lf(W(/e?v< of the Human Body. 



386 QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE. 

eye-washes except upon the advice of a competent physician? 
What rule should be observed with regard to the direction of 
the light when we are at work? Name some causes of near- 
sightedness. Remedies. 



346. Grive the account of Laura Bridgman. 

347-350. Describe the anatomy of the nose. In what part 
of the nose is the function of smell performed? Why do we 
"sniff" when our attention is attracted by an odor? Give some 
experiments which illustrate the connection between smell, taste, 
and touch. Why should we retain our food in the mouth as 
long as possible? Of what use are gastronomic odors? 

350, Why should a child's ear never be boxed? Illustrate. 
How can we detect inattention from deafness in a child ? What 
should we consider in this respect? 

351, Why should we avoid direct draughts in the ear? Ex- 
plain the use of ear-wax. What common habit is very injurious? 
Why? 

352, 353. What is the office of the Eustachian tube? Illus- 
trate. 

353, 354. Describe the action of the "eye-curtain." Grive 
experiments. What are "PurMnje's Figures"? Describe ex- 
periment. 



HEALTH AND DISEASE. 

251-254. State some of the benefits of health. Contrast it 
with sickness. How were diseases formerly supposed to be 
caused? What remedies were used? What does modern science 
teach us to be the nature of disease? G-ive some illustrations 
showing how diseases may be prevented. Is it probable that 
the body was intended to give out in any one of its organs? 
What is the first step to be taken in the cure of a disease? 
What should be the object of medicine? What is now the 
chief dependence of the best physicians? What do you think 
concerning the common use of patent nostrums? Ought we not 
to use the greatest care in the selection of our physician? 



GLOSSARY. 



Ab do' men {abdo, I conceal). The largest cavity in the body, 

in which are hidden the intestines, stomach, e^c. 
Ab sorb'ent {ab, from; sorbeo, I suck up). 
A9'e tab'u lum {acetum, vinegar). The socket for holding the 

head of the thigh-bone, shaped like an ancient vinegar 

vessel. 
A 9e'tic (acetwm, vinegar). 
Ad'i pose. Fatty. 
Al bu'i-nen (alhus, white). A substance resembling the white 

of egg. 
Al bu'mi nous substances contain much albumen. 
Al'i ment'a ry. Pertaining to food. 
Arka line (-lin) substances neutralize acids. 
An'aes thet'ic. A substance that destroys the feeling of 

pain. 
A op'ta. The largest artery of the body. 
Ap'o plex y (-})lek-se). A disease marked by loss of sensation 

and voluntary motion. 
A'queous (a'-kwo-us), Waterj^ 
A ra-eW no id {arachne, a spider; eidos, form). A membrane 

like a spider's web covering the brain. 
Ap'bdr vrtae means " the tree of life." 
Ar'tery {aer, air; tereo, I contain). So named because after 

death the arteries contain air only, and hence tlie ancients 

supposed them to be air-tubes leading through the body. 
Ar tic' u late {articiilo, I form a joint). 
Ar tic' u la tion. A joint. 
As phyx'ia (-(Ix-o-a). Tjitorally. no-pulse; apparent death. 



888 GLOSSARY. 

As sim'i la'tion is the process of changing food into flesh, etc. 
At' las. So called because, as in ancient fable the god Atlas 

supported the globe on his shoulders, so in the body this 

bone bears the head. 
Au'di to ry Nerve. The nerve of hearing. 
Au'ri cle (-kl) {auris, ear) of the heart. So named from its 

shape. 

Bi'9eps. A muscle with two heads, or origins. 

Bi -eus^pid. Tooth with two points; also a valve of the heart. 

Bron'-ehi (-ki). The two branches of the windpipe. 

Bron'-ehi al Tubes. Subdivisions of bronchi. 

Bursa (a purse). Small sac containing fluid near a joint. 

Ca nine' (canis, a dog) teeth are like dog's teeth. 

Cap'il la Pies (capillus, a hair). A system of tiny blood-vessels. 

Car'bon. Pure charcoal. 

Car bon' ic Acid. A deadly gas given off by the lungs and 

by fires. 
Ca rot' ids Qcaros, lethargy). Arteries of the neck, so named 

because the ancients supposed them to be the seat of sleep. 
Car' pus. The wrist. 
Car'tilage. G-ristle. 

Cell. A minute sac, usually with soft walls and fluid contents. 
Cel'lu lar {cellula, a little cell). Full of cells. 
Cer'e bel'lum. The little brain. 
Cer'e brum. A Latin word meaning brain. 
Cer'vi cal. Relating to the neck. 

Chlo'ral (klo) Hy'drate. A drug used to induce sleep. 
Cho'roid. The second coat of the eye. 
Chyle (kile). A milky juice formed in digestion. 
Chyme (kime). From chumos, juice. 

Cir'cu la'tion. The course of the blood through the body. 
CiKi a (the plural of cilium, an ej-elash). Hair-hke projections 

in the air-passages. 
ClSv'i cle (klav'-i-kl). From clavis, a key. 
Co ag'u la'tion. A clotting of blood. 
C6-e'9yx (a cuckoo). A bony mass belovf the sacrum. 
Co-eh'lea. A Latin word meaning snail-shell. See Ear. 



GLOSSARY. 389 

Com" pound. A substance composed of two or more elements. 
Con ta'gi ous diseases are those caught by contact, the breath, 

etc. 
Con' trac til' i ty (con, together ; traho, I draw). 
Con'vo lu'tion {con, together; volvo, I roll). 
Cor'ne a {cornu, a horn). A transparent, horn-like window in 

the eye. 
Cor' pus 9le (kor'-pus-l). From a Latin word meaning a little 

body. It is applied to the disks of the blood. 
Cra'ni al. Relating to the skull. 
Crys'tal line {Grystallum, a crystal). 
Cu ta'ne ous {cutis, skin). Pertaining to the skin. 
Cu'ti cle (kti'-ti-kl). From a Latin word meaning little skin. 
Cu'tis, the true skin. 

Den'tal {dens, dentis, a tooth). 

Di' a phragm (-fram). The muscle dividing the abdomen from 
the chest. 

Di as' to le {diastello, I put asunder). Dilation of the heart. 

Dis'lo ca'tion. A putting out of joint. 

Ddr'sal {dorsum, the back). 

Duct. A small tube. 

Du ode'num {duodeni, twelve each). 

Du'ra Ma'ter {durus, hard; inater, mother). The outer mem- 
brane of the brain. 

Dys pep' si a is a difficulty of digestion. 

E lim'i nate To expel. 

Ep'idem'ic. A disease aft'ecting a great number of persons 
at once. 

Ep'iderni'is. The cuticle. 

Ep'i glot' tis (ep/, upon; glottis, the tongue). Tlio lid of the 
windpipe. 

Ep'i the'li una. The outer surface of mucous or serous mem- 
branes. 

Eu sta'-ehi an (yu-st;i'-l<i-an) Tube. So nauied from its discov- 
erer, an Italian physician. 

ExcrS'tion. Waste particles thrown olf by the excretory 
organs. 



390 GLOSSARY. 

Fer'men ta'tion. The process by which sugar is turned into 

alcohol. 
Fl'brin (fibra, a fiber). 
Fil'a ment {filum, a thread). 
Func'tion. See Organ. 

Gan'gli on (gang'-gh-on). From ganglion, a knot; plu. ganglia. 

Gas' trie (gaster, stomach). 

Glands (glandz). From glans, a Latin word meaning acorn. 

Their object is to secrete in their cells some liquid from the 

blood. 
Glot'tis. The opening at the top of the larynx. 

Hu'merus. The arm-bone, 

Hu'mor. A Latin word meaning moisture. 

Hy'dro gen. The lightest gas known, and one of the elements 

of water. 
Hy'gi ene. From a Greek word meaning health. 
Hyp'o glos'sal. Literally "under the tongue"; a nerve of 

the tongue. 

In gi'sor {incido, I cut) teeth are cutting teeth. 
In'spl ra'tion {in and spiro, I breathe in). 
In tes' tine (-tin). From intus, w^ithin. 

La-eh' r^ mal (lachryma, a tear). Pertaining to tears. 

La-e'teal {lac, lactis, milk). So called from the milky look of 
the ch^^le during digestion. 

La •eu'' na, plu. lacunae {lakos, a hole). Cavities in the bone- 
structure. 

Lar'ynx (lar'-mx). The upper part of the windpipe. 

Lig'a ments {Ugo, I bind) tie bones together. 

Lu''bri cate. To oil in order to prevent friction. 

Lum'bar {lumhus, a loin). Pertaining to the loins. 

L^mph (limf). From lympha, pure water. 

Lym phat'ic (lim-fat'-ik). 

Mas'ti ca'tion. The act of chewing. 

Me duria Ob Ion ga' ta. The upper part of the spinal cord. 



GLOSSARY. 391 

Mem'brane. A thin skin, or tissue. 

Meg'en ter y. The membrane by which the intestines are 

fastened to the spine. 
Met' a car' pal (meta, after; karpos, wrist). 
Met' a tar' sal {meta, after; tarsos, the instep). 
Mi'cro scope (mikros, small ; skopeo, I see). 
Mo' lap {mola, a mill) teeth are the grinders. 
Mor'phine {Moiyheus, the Greek god of sleep). 
Mo' to ry. Giving motion. 
Mu'cous (-kiis) Membrane. A thin tissue, or skin, covering 

the open cavities of the body. See Serous. 
Mu'cus. A fluid secreted by a membrane and serving to 

lubricate it. 
Mus'cle (mus'-sl). A bundle of fibers covered by a membrane. 
My o'pi a {muo, I contract ; ops, the eye). 

Nar cot' ic. A drug producing sleep. 

Na'gal (na'-zal). From nasus, the nose. 

Nerve {neuron, a cord). 

Ni'tpo gen Gas is the passive element of the air. 

Ni trog'e nous. Containing nitrogen. 

Nu tri'tion. The process by which the body is nourished. 

CEsoph'agus (e-sof'-a-gus). The gullet; literally, a "food- 
carrier." 

Ol fac'to py. Pertaining to the smell. 

Op'gan. An organ is a portion of the body designed for a 
particular use, which is called its function; thus the heart 
circulates the blood. 

Os'se ous (-sheus). Bone-like. 

Os'sl fy {ossa, bones ; facio, I make). 

Oxida'tion. The process of combining with oxygen. 

Ox'y gen. The active element of the air. 

Pal' ate {palatum, the palate). Roof of the mouth. 
Pan' ere as {pas, all; kreas, flesh). An organ of digestion. 
Pa pil'la, plu. papilla''. Tiny cone-like projections. 
Pa pal' y sis. A disease in which one loses sensation, or the 
power of motion, or both. 



392 GLOSSARY. 

Pa rot' id {para, near; ous, otos, ear). One of the salivary 

glands. 
Patel'la (a little dish). The knee-pan. 
Pec' to ral. Pertaining to the chest. 
Pep' sin {pejjto, I digest). The chief constituent of the gastric 

juice. 
Per'i car'di um {peri, around; ka/'dia, the heart). The mem- 
brane wrapping the heart. 
Per'ios'teum (peri, around; osteon, bone). The membrane 

around the bone. 
Per'i stal'tic {peri, round; staUein, to arrange). Applied to 

the worm-like movement of the alimentary canal. 
Phar'ynx (far'-inx). From pharugx, the throat. 
PI' a Ma'ter (tender mother). See Brain. 
Pig'ment, A paint. 

Plas'ma (plaz'-mah). The nutritious fluid of the blood. 
Pleu'ra (pi u' -rah). From pileura, a rib. The membrane that 

lines the chest and wraps the lungs. 
Pres by o'pi a {presbus, old ; ops, the eye). A defect in the 

eye common to old age. 
Pro 9ess. A projection. Sometimes it retains its ordinary 

meaning of "operation." 
Pylo'rus (a gate). The door- way through which the food 

passes from the stomach. 
Pur mo nary {pulmo, the lungs). Pertaining to the lungs. 

Ra'di us. A Latin word meaning the spoke of a wheel, a 

ray, etc. 
Ram'i fy. To spread like the branches of a tree. 
Res' pi ra'tion {re, again; spiro, I breathe). Act of breathing. 
Ret'i na {rete, a net). The expansion of the optic nerve in the 

eye. 

Sa'crum (sacred). So named, it is said, because this bone of 

the pelvis was anciently offered in sacrifice. 
Sa II' va. A Latin word meaning spittle; the fluid secreted by 

the salivary glands. 
Scap' u la. The shoulder-blade. 
Scav'enger. A street-sweeper. 



GLOSSARY. 393 

Selerot'ic (skle-rot'-ic). The outer coat of the eye. 

Se^re'tion {secretum, to separate). 

Sed' en ta ry persons are those who sit much. 

Sen'sory Nerves. The nerves of feehng. 

Se'rous Membrane. A thin tissue, or skin, covering the 
cavities of the body that are not open to the external air. 

Se'rum. The thin part of the blood. 

Subcla'vi an. Located under the clavicle. 

Sub lin'gual [sub, under; lingua, the tongue). The salivary 
gland located under the tongue. 

Sub max'il la py {suh, under; maxilla, jaw-bone). The sali- 
vary gland located under the jaw. 

Syn o'vi a {sun, with; oon, egg). A fluid that lubricates the 
joints. 

Syn o'vi al Membrane packs the joints. 

Sys'to le {sustello, I contract). Contraction of the heart. 

Tem'po ral. An artery on the temple {tempiis, time), so called 

because, as is said, the hair whitens first at that point. 
Ten' dons (tendo, I stretch). The cords conveying motion from 

the muscle to the bone. 
Tho'rax (a breast-plate). The cavity containing the lungs, etc. 
Tib'i a. The shin-bone. 
Tis'sue. A general term applied to the textures of which the 

different organs are composed ; osseous tissue forms bones. 
Tra'-ehe a (tra'-ke-a). Means rough, alluding to the roughened 

surface of the windpipe. 
Tri'9eps. A muscle with three heads, or origins. 
Tri-eus'pid {tres, three; cuspis, point). A valve of the heart. 
Tym'panum (a drum) of the ear. 

Vas'eu lap {vasculum, little vessel). Full of small blood-vessels. 

Van' tpicle (-kl). A cavity of the heart. 

Vep'te bp^, plu. vertebra3 {verto, I turn). A term applied to 

each one of the bones of the spine. 
Vll'lus (villus, tuft of hair), plu. villi. 
VI' t! ate. To taint. To spoil. 
ViVre ous {r if ru))i, glass). Glassy. 
VQ'mep (plowshare). A bone of (lie nose. 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Abdomen 80, 284, 329 

Abdominal Respiration 299 

Absinthe 343 

Absorbing power of the skin.... 62 

Absorption of food 165 

AchiUei?, Tendon of 35, 284 

Adam's apple 73 

Air, Composition of 83 

" Need of 83 

"• Action of 83 

Air-cells 78 

Albinos 51 

Albumen 154 

Albuminous bodies 154 

Alcohol 131,177,208 

" as a Narcotic 208 

" Cause of Degeneration — 143 

" Effect on Blood 144 

" Brain 210 

" " " Circulation 141 ""^ 

" " " Digestion 180 

•'' Heat of body... 182 

'' Heart 141 

" Kidneys 181 

" " " T^iver 181 

" " " Lungs 145 

" " " Membranes 143 

" " " Mental Powers. 209 

" " " Muscle 183 

" " " Nervous System 208 

" Waste 184 

.... 185, 338 

158 

158 



Alcoholism 

Alimentary canal. . 
A mivbn 



PAGE 

Anatomy, Definition ot... Preface v 

Ankle-joint 20, 281 

Antidotes for poisons 265, 266 

Aorta 115 

Apoplexy 261 

Aqueous humor 237 

Arachnoid membrane 193 

Areolar (connective) tissue 55 

Armless Artist, An 273 

Arterial blood 114 

Arteries 114 

Articulation 76 

Asphyxia 264 

Assimilation 158 

Atlas 12 

Auditory nerve 235 

Auricles of the heart Ill 

Axis 13 



Back-bone 12 

Baldness, Causes of 285 

Ball-and-socket joint 19 

Base-ball plajdng 285 

Baths and Bathing 63, 289-293 

Bed ventilation 94, 313 

Beef 168 

Bicuspid teeth 57 

Bicuspid valve Ill 

Bicycling 284 

Bilo 164, 167 

Black Hole of Calcutta 85 

Bleeding, Checking of 128 

Blood, The 105 

Blood-cr.>-stals ......,, 107 



396 



INDEX 



PAGE 

BlusMng 127 

Bones, The 3 

"• Attachraent of muscles to 275 

Bow-legs 22 

Brain 193 

" Circulation of blood in the 314 
" Over-stimulation of the — 331 

" Exercise 205 

Bread 169 

Breast-bone 14 

Breathing 80, 280, 282 

Bridgman, Laura 345 

Bromides, The 343 

Bronchi 78 

Bronchitis 97 

Bums 257 

Bursa , 45 

Callus 270 

Canal, Alimentary 158 

" Semi-circular 235 

" Haversian 7 

Canine teeth 57 

Capillaries 117 

Carbonaceous food 154 

Carbonic acid 83 

Carpus 17 

Cartilage 8 

Casein 154 

Cataract 243 

Catarrh 130, 315 

CeU 175 

Cellar, A typical bad 311 

Cellar wall. What came from a 312 

Cellars, How to construct 307 

Cells of blood 105 

"• " brain 191 

" " lungs 79 

Cerebellum 196 

Cerebrum 193 

Cess-pools, Dangers from... 309, 311 

Change of our bodies 122 

Cheese. 169, 321 

Chest 14, 299 

Chilblain 69 

Chloral hydrate 221, 341, 343 



PAGE 

Chloroform 222, 340 

Chocolate 171 

Choking 262 

Choroid 237 

Chyle 165 

Chyme 163 

Cigarette-smoking 217, 342 

Cilia, The 79 

Ciliary processes 238 

Circulation 119, 314 

Clavicle 15 

Climbing 281 

Clothing 66, 281, 295, 300 

Coagulation 109 

Cocaine 223, 342 

Coccyx 3 

Cochlea 235 

Coffee 170, 322 

Cold, A 129 

Cold, Catching 316 

Colds, Catarrhal 315 

Cold bath 63 

Collar-bone 15 

Complexion, The 51, 329 

Congestion 126, 330 

Connective tissue 55 

Constipation 328 

Consumption 97 

Cooking of food 171 

Cords, Vocal 73 

Corn 169 

Cornea 237 

Corns 68 

Corpuscles 104 

Cortian fibers 236 

Cosmetics 63 

Cotton 66 

Coughing 81 

Cranial nerves 199 

Croup 98, 260 

Crying 81 

Crystalline lens 237 

" " Adjustment of.. 224 

Curvature of the spine 22 

Cuticle, The 50 

Cutis, The 49 



INDEX, 



B97 



PAGE 

Decay.... 122, 254, 283 

Degeneration 143, 181 

Dentals, The 77 

Dentine 58 

Dermis 49 

Diaphragm 79, 80 

Diastole 110 

Diffusion of gases 85, 166 

Digestion 158, 317, 324, 330 

Digits 15 

Diphtheria 98 

Disease, G-erm Theory of 300 

Diseases, etc., 21, 43, 67, 96, 126, 176 

Disinfectants 256 

Diving 283 

Dreams 334 

Dress 281, 282, 295-297, 300 

Drinking-water 317 

Drowning 264,293 

Duodenum 163 

Dura mater 193 

Dyed clothing, Poisonously 206 

Dyspepsia 176, 324 

Ear, The 234, 350 

Eating, Over 177, 326 

Eating, Rapid 172, 349 

Eating, Regularity in 174, 325 

Eggs 168, 169 

Elbow-joint 16 

Enamel of teeth 59 

Epidermis 49 

Epiglottis 73 

Epilepsy 261 

Epithelium 164 

Erysipelas 67 

Ether 240 

Eustachian tube 236, 352 

Exercise, Muscular 40 

" Effects of insufficient.. 280 

" Popular modes of 280 

" Brain 205 

Too violent 278, 279 

Expiration 80 

Eye, The 236 

" Adjustment of tlu\... 241, 352 



PAGE 

Eye, Colored curtain in the 353 

" Muscles of the 31 

" Things in the 244 

Eyelids 238 

Eye-stones 245 

Eye-wash 245 

Face, Bones of 9 

'' Expression of 205 

Fat-cells 56 

Fats, The 154 

Felon 22 

Femur 18 

Ferments 132, 133, 301 

Fever 263, 316 

Fibrin 106, 109 

Fibula 20 

Fish 169, 322 

Fits 261 

Flannel 66 

Fontanelles, The 5 

Food, Absorption of 165 

" Cooldng of 171 

" Digestion of 158 

" Kinds of 168 

" Need of 153 

" Quantity of 172 

Foot, The 20, 271 

Foot-ball games 285 

Fractures 270 

Frost-bite 263 

Frxiits 170, 325 

Furs 67 

Gall-blaudeii (cyst) 79, 164 

Ganglion, A 45 

" A nerve 191 

Gaping 82 

Garbage, How to dispose of 308 

Gastric-juice 162, 1 03, 320 

Gelatine 4, 50 

Gorm theory of disease, The.... 300 

Germs grow, TTow disease 301 

in dust, Disonso, 86, 303. 308 

in soiled clothing 301 

in air 91. 30(5. 310 



398 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Germs in water 94, 317 

in bad sewage 306, 309 

" in ice 319 

Grlands, G-astric 162 

" Lachrymal 238 

" Lymphatic 125 

Parotid 159 

" Perspiratory 61 

" SeTDaceons 60 

Grlosso-pharyngeal nerve 200 

Glottis 73 

Glycogen 167 

Gout, The 44 

Gristle 8 

Gymnastics 285 

Habits 205 

Ilsemoglobin 108 

Hair, The 52 

'' Care of 285, 286 

" Blanching of 286, 287 

Hair-dyes 63 

HaUns 272 

Hand, The 17, 271 

Hasheesh 344, 345 

Haversian canals 7 

Head 9 

Hearing 234, 350 

Heart 110 

Heat, Distribution of 120 

" Regulation of .. . 121 

" Production of 121, 154 

Heredity 185, 341 

Hiccough 81 

Hinge- j oints 16 

Hip, The 18 

Home, The sanitary 305-314 

Horseback-riding 284 

Hot baths 65, 290 

Humerus 16 

Hygiene, Definition of . . . .-P?'e/ace v 
Hj'poglossal nerve 201 

Incisoe teeth 57 

Indian com 169 j 

Indigestion 172, 177, 324 



I PAGE 

I Inferior vena cava Ill 

Inflammation 127 

In-growing nails 68 

Innomlnata 14 

Inspiration 80, 281 

Internal ear. The 234, 351 

Intestines, The 163, 329 

Involuntary muscles 29 

Iris, The 238, 353 

Iron 155 

Joints 8 

Juice, Gastric 162, 163, 320 

" Intestinal 163 

" Pancreatic 165 

Knee-cap, The 36 

" joint, The 36 

Labials, The 77 

Labyrinth, The 234 

Lachrymal canals 238 

glands 238 

lake, The 238 

Lacteals 126, 165 

Lacunae. 7 

Lamb 168 

Larynx 73 

Laughing 81 

Lens, Crystalline 237 

Levers 32 

Life by death 122, 254 

Ligaments 9 

Light, The 78, 336, 352 

Lime 155, 257 

Linen 66, 304 

Linguals '- 77 

Liver 164, 179, 331 

Locked-jaw 44 

Lumbago 45 

Lungs, The = . 79 

" Constriction of the 96 

Lunula 288 

Lymph, The 125 

Lymphatic circulation 124 

Lymphatics, Office of 125 



INDEX, 



399 



PAGE 

Man, Comparative anat. of, 269, 272 

Marrow 7 

Mastication 159 

Medulla oblongata 200 

Membrane 55 

" Mucous 54 

Serous 110 

Metacarpal bones 17 

Milk 169 

Milk-teetli 57 

Molars 57 

Morphine 342 

Mucous membrane 54 

Mumps, Tbe 177 

Muscles of tlie body 28, 275 

" " eye 31 

" Contractility of 27 

Number of 27 

" Tendons of 30 

Voluntary 29, 278 

" to bones, Attachment of, 275 

Muscular fibers 276 

" sense 39 

Mutton 168 

Nails, The 54, 287 

" In-growing 68 

Narcotics 208, 340 

Near-sight 241 

Nerves, The 197 

" Cranial 199 

" Spinal 199 

" of motion 198 

" of sensation 198 

" Sympathetic 201 

Nervous system 191, 330 

Nitrogenous food 154 

Nose, The 232, 347 

OcuLi motores. The 199 

Odors 232 

CEsophagus 100 

Oils, The 154 

Olfactory nerve 232 

Opiiira 218, 342 

Optic nerve 237 



PAGE 

Organs, Definition of 3 

" of circulation 105 

" " digestion 157 

" " respiration 73 

" " the voice 73 

Osmose 166 

Ossification 5 

Otoliths 235 

Overwork 331, 333 

Oxidation 107, 151 

Oxygen 83 

Palate, The..... 74 

Pancreas 165 

Pancreatic juice 163, 165 

Papillae 52 

Parotid gland 159 

Passions, Effect of violent 330 

Patella, The 20, 36 

Pelvis, The 15 

Pepsin. 162 

Pericardium 110 

Periosteum 7 

Peristaltic movement 160 

Peritoneum 163 

Perspiration, The 62 

Phalanges 20 

Pharynx 74 

Phosphorus 156 

Physiologj-, Definition of Preface 

Pia mater 193 

Pigment 51, 287, 330 

Plasma 105 

Pleura 79 

Pleurisy 97 

Pneumogastric nerve 200 

Pneumonia 97 

Poison habits 185, 218, 338 

Poisonoiisly dyed clothing 296 

Poisonous milk 321 

Poisons, Antidotes to 265 

" Siioradic 307 

Pork 168 

Portal Vein 116, 148, 106 

Potatoes 109 

Processes 1 0, 36 



400 



mDEX 



PAGE 

PtyaHn 159 

Pulmonary arteries 119 

" veins 119 

Pulse 115, 314 

I*upil 238 

Pylorus 162 



E,ADirs 

Rapid eating 

Heaction 

Reflex action 

Respiration 73, 

" Abdominal 

Retina 237, 

Rheumatism 

Ribs, The 

Rickets, The 

Rising early, The art of 

Rowing 

Russian bath. The 65, 

SACRtrir, The 

St. "Vitus' Dance 

Saliva, The 

Salivary glands 

Salt 

Scapula 

Sclerotic coat 

Scrofula 

Sea-bathing 

Sebaceous glands 

Secretion, Definition of 

Semi-lunar valves 

Senses, The , 

" of hearing 234, 

" sight 23G, 

" smell 232, 

" taste 230, 

" touch 229, 

Seroiis membrane 

Serum 

Sewers 309- 

Shoes, Hygienic 21, 

Shoulder-blade 

" -joint 

Sick, Care of 



17 
172 

64 
202 
297 
299 
354 

44 

13 

21 
336 
281 
290 

15 

43 
159 
159 
156 

15 
237 
128 

65 

61 
159 
113 
229 
350 
354 
348 
348 
345 
110 
109 
311 j 
274 

16 

16 I 
256 



PAGE 

Sick-room 255 

Sighing 81 

Sight, Sense of 236 

Sinew (tendon) 30 

Skating 281 

Skeleton, The 3, 269 

Skin, The 49, 285 

Skull, The 9 

Sleep 206, 334 

" and conscience 336 

" by medicine .... 206, 220, 340 

Small intestine, The 163 

Smell, Sense of 232 

Sneezing 81 

Snoring 81 

Sound, Theory of 235 

Spectacles 242 

Speech 75 

Spinal column, The 12 

Spinal cord 197 

" nerves 197 

Spine, The 11 

Spleen 157 

Sprain 22, 259 

Squinting 244 

Stammering 98 

Sternum 13 

Stimulants, Xarcotics and 

131, 177, 208, 338 

Stimulants and the Voice 298 

Stomach 160, 331 

Glandular coat of 319 

Sugars, The 154 

Sunhght 206, 336, 337 

Sunstroke 263 

Superior vena cava 119 

Sutures 9 

Swallowing, Act of 160 

Sweat 62 

" glands 61 

Swimming 66, 283, 293 

Sympathetic system 201 

Synovial membrane 8 

Systole 110 

Tactus eeudittjs , . 230 



INDEX. 



401 



PAGE 

Tartar 60 

Taste, Sense of 230 

Tea 170, 322 

Tears, The 238 

Teeth, The 57 

" Decay of 59 

" Preservation of 60 

Temperature of the body 121 

Tendon of Achilles 36, 284 

Tendons 30 

Tennis-playing 284 

Theobromine 171 

Thigh 18 

Thoracic duct 124 

Thorax 13 

Throat 73 

Thumb 17, 272 

Tibia 20 

Tight-lacing 96 

Tissues, Definition of 9 

Tobacco 214, 342 

Toes, Flexibility of the 273 

Tongue, The 230 

Toothache, The 262 

Touch, Sense of 229 

Trachea 78 

Transfusion 109 

Tricuspid valve 113 

Tricycling 284 

Trifacial nerve 199 

Trypsin 165 

Tympanum 234 

Ulna, The IG 

Unconscious action of the brain 203 
Urea, Uric Acid 1(57 

Vaccination 303 

Valves of the heart 112 

" " " veins 116 



PAGE 

Varicose veins 116 

Veins, The 116 

Velocity of the blood 120 

Vena cava 119 

Ventilation 85-95 

" Bed and bedroom 

87, 88, 94, 95, 313 

Ventricles 110 

Vertebrae 12 

Villi of intestine 166 

Vitreous humor 237 

Vocal cords 73 

Vocalization 73, 298 

Voice, The 75, 297 

" Effect of stimulants on the 298 
Voluntary muscles 29 

Walking 37, 280 

Warts 68 

Washing 63 

Waste-pipes, How to clear 310 

Water 155, 317 

"• Disease germs in 317 

How to purify 318 

" and foul gases 318 

Windpipe 76 

Wisdom teeth 58 

Wonders of the brain 207 

" " " digestion 175 

" " " heart 123 

" " " muscles 43 

" " " respiration 95 

Woolen G6 

Worms 61 

Worry, Effects of 333 

Wounds 258 

Wrist-joint 17 

Yawning 82 



LB D '09 



